


Crossed Roads

by alice_ul



Series: Adventures (until i can get a better name) [1]
Category: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Multi, Multiple Crossovers, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-07 15:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 95,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21460258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alice_ul/pseuds/alice_ul
Summary: Life can be so... unpredictable, iffy, wrongful, whimsical... that happens with Flint Lockwood, who lost someone he loved with his life. But one day he finds a mysterious young girl floating in the ocean, and after he saved her, he started to feel something weird about her. Will he be able to find her secrets out? (Takes place before the first movie).
Series: Adventures (until i can get a better name) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098851
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	1. A Wish

**Author's Note:**

> I already ended and uploaded this on other pages, but I wanna do the same here again so... this is the first time I'm publishing stuff here. I'll try to not forget to upload stuff around.

_Itoshiku tsuyoku dakishimete some kaete ageru_   
_(I'll hold you tightly, with love, And change your colors -)_

_Hageshiku tataku moeagaru koi kokoro yo_   
_(My heart, full of love, burns high and furiously...)_

_I believe in desire_

_Desire - Do As Infinity_

* * *

Do any of you believe that things happens by complete chance or just by whims of fate? That maybe in some life you met that person and they returned and you never suspected about it? Think about it, perhaps that person knows you better than you know yourself, or something as well... who knows, the world, the entire universe, space itself are wide, infinite and full of surprises or twists that sometimes we have to accept to keep moving as people.

The day was grey as usual under the, curiously enough, grey and dull town of Swallow Falls, with all of its citizens walking around the streets minding their own business all around. Some of them having those gross fish called sardines and they utterly despised with everything nowdays, and once upon a time used to be the echonomical fuel of their home...

Going somewhere else - this big edification that looked like a tower in part located in the backyard full of all kind of junk of a house, as a big metallic dome with blue lines in the outside was upon the base of several meters. Inside it we can see Flint Lockwood, with his sixteen years old and his genius mind in action, making some research about genetics in his computer made of several screens, typing furiously on the keyboard at the speed of light, with his eyes reading information as fast as he could and making his own formulas and stuff...

"Oh meatballs..." He said to himself, "I didn't think that genetics could be that complex..." Then sighed deeply, "It'll be harder than I thought... I may need some help for this..."

He passed a hand through his messy brown hair and sighed again, spinning around to get his view away from the screens and allow his brain to get a momentary and propper break from the large amounts of information it was receiving in such a short amount of time, massaging his eyes with his fingertips so he would be able to focus back again. He was right away to get back to work, but hear the sound of broken glass and someone screaming, "Steve!" in a joyful...? manner made him stop and check. There was a vervet monkey known as Steve having one of these euphorical times again, making a great disaster with various materials like tubes, flasks, etc. all of them were empty at least, but still, those things weren't easy to find neither to make...

"Steve! Drop that now!" He exclaimed, starting to chase his pet/lab partner all over the lab, making a disaster. Steve wasn't even listening to the young inventor at all, jumping and swinging around recklessly for the dismay of his owner. And then after ten minutes that felt more like an eternity, leaving the whole place as if a tornado flew around the inside, he managed to catch the mischievous little animal, huffing and puffing and probably with a few bruises under his lab coat and a bump on his head hidden by his hair. "I... finally... gotcha..." He said breathlessly, "Good lord Steve... how many times do I have to say that my lab instruments aren't toys?" Oh well... "Now I probably have to redo everything... again..."

Raw material to make glass was abundant as he lived in an island, some sand, the remains of glass on the floor around the lab, a few days and a lot of patience was enough to recover everything. The job of a glazier wasn't easy, and it was a real fine job that had to be done with someone's own hands, hard work and a lot of patience. Taking a broom and a paddle he proceeded to clean the mess and put the shattered glass around the laboratory into a trash bin he used to load material ready to be recycled, having given Steve a bucket and a wooden spoon to play with, ending with the job in two or three minutes.

He could've created a cleaning robot or something so he could keep focusing on his previous activities, but the more he thought about it, it was good to do at least a real easy job himself just to give his mind a break, even if it was just for a few minutes. Something was something anyways...

"_**Flint!**_" A voice called from outside, he recognized the source as his father, "Is everything okay?"

Placing the broom and the paddle back in their place, he headed to the windows of his laboratory and raised the metallic curtain to look down, seeing his father wearing a fishing hat and vest... someone was ready to go to fish apparently...

"It's alright dad" He said, "Just had some... problems up here with Steve..." He turned around to check on the mischievous monkey, Steve at least was still busy banging the bucket with the wooden spoon. At least he was actually busy...

"Well, I'm going fishing to the docks right now. And you're coming with me." Oh God no... "I need some help this time, and don't you dare to bring that monkey with you! I don't want him to rip anyone's moustache again!" The young inventor flinched pretty much a lot when he reminded that time where his dad got his moustache ripped off that day when he was presenting and recording the invention of the Monkey Thought Translator at his father's tackle shop, making him shiver, "And I'm being serious!"

He groaned, "Do I really got to go? I have some things to be done over here and-"

"Flint..." His dad said in a slightly annoyed way interrupting him, which was the sign that he was being completely serious about his decision.

"_God give me patience please..._" He thought, "Alright dad..." Said then slightly resigned.

"We're leaving in ten minutes, skipper."

In the right moment he turned around, Flint closed the window frowning and sighing heavily almost in despair for what came out of sudden... the last thing he wanted to do in that right moment was to help his father with his fishing activities as it was a bit of too boring for him. For one hand it was his own activities in that moment: he still had to get some other stuff done and start to rebuild his detroyed laboratory materials - which already takes a good while to get done. Then there was the other hand: get an _actual _break and some fresh salty air to clear up his mind in a better way, maybe he would be able to think about something else before beginning with the bigger leagues of genetics...

Well he didn't have another option anyways...

Even if the relation with his father was... real, real but incredibly awkward at the point it felt slightly cringeworthy. Althought, it wasn't their fault that they were completely out of tune, right?

They were like two different sides of the same coin: In one side we have Flint Lockwood. Creative, a smart-arse, real hyperactive, full of ideas and dreaming always to change the world somehow, following what his late mother thought about him and how he would be able to do great things for the world. And there on the other side was his father, Tim Lockwood was pretty much the opposite of his son: just a humble and simple man who loved to fish, and was always in his shop eating sardines, someone who never actually understood him at all... not like his mom...

Not that damn pain in his chest again...

Shaking his head he quickly got some of his things ready, and also left some food to Steve, he was ready to leave the laboratory, to then give a glance to a photograph of his mother next to his bed upon the nightstand. Getting close to it he took it and sat down for a little bit, staring at it with a sad gaze, almost feeling his eyes filling up with tears, being able to see his reflex with the translucent glass of the framework, reflecting certain grief in his eyes... "Oh mom... you don't know how much I miss you..." He said tearing up a bit, "Perhaps you could've made dad an I closer..." he sniffed there biting his lower lip a bit "How cool would it be if you were here... I wish there was someone like you out there... I mean... no one will ever replace you... just someone like..." He sighed "Nevermind..." He shook his head again and tried to calm down enough before going down, it wouldn't work, but it was worth to try, "Take care of the laboratory, Steve!" he exclaimed, with his voice sounding slightly cracked.

"Steve!"

And there he got downstairs, cleaning up his face as much as he could to pretend he wasn't crying, really preferring to look strong for his dad than just a crybaby. When Tim looked at him, he was almost sure he realized his tears, but didn't say anything at all... most part of time he'd be able to know what his father was thinking about, and sometimes it was just cryptic... as if he was thinking just for himself or something. This time was one of the few times he couldn't tell anything...

They didn't exchange words when they got the stuff ready in the back side of the car, just placing everything together with actions, with an awkward ambient among the two of them; from there they went to the docks. Reaching the place he realized that his father just maybe fooled him as he parked in front of his fishing boat, which, of course meant they'd be at high seas (or probably just a few miles away from the island to come back early, he wasn't entirely sure though). In any way, he didn't like that, just wanting to get back to his lab and do his stuff, besides, those glasses wouldn't fix themselves alone, right?

"Dad, I really got some things to get done at the lab." He said, "Are we gonna take that long at sea? I can't leave Steve alone for a long time either and you know that..."

"I'll just take out some things I got on the boat, son." His dad said, "You can already find a place to sit down, I'll be right back." Getting down the car he just took some things out the trunk, including the fishing rods and a box full of fishing stuff. He still wasn't a real fan of fishing, at least not since she passed...

He groaned... trying to not think about it anymore... even if sometimes that was an impossible challenge... he shook his head again trying to drive those thoughts away and focus in present time. And at least his father was coming back...

It's been like an hour already, pretty much with silence between father and son. Flint's been, incredibly for Tim, quiet and not complaining about when they were going back home, as if he was needing a distraction from whatever project he had in mind. The calm of the sea indeed made its job as his mind was fully driven away, probably somewhere under the iron sea right now... it was slightly uncomfortable for his father to have him so quiet because of his normal and usual wacky almost happy-go-luck and somewhat awkward behavior, "Son?" He asked, but he was too drifted away apparently. "Flint" He said again moving his arm a bit, as there was still no answer he did it again, "Flint, are you okay?"

In a first moment he looked so confused, as if he didn't know where he was, to then sigh and cover his face for a moment, "Yes, sorry just... I'm okay..." He took a deep breath after that, as if he was trying to put his head together or something. "I just... got repair broken glass again... Steve broke my stuff again and it takes its while to make new instruments..."

"Can't you just buy new ones?"

"I don't think Cannery High (1) would like to give me their science stuff..." There was a silence again for a brief moment, mostly because his son was right about it, "Besides, I can create them myself anyways..." Only to keep himself a bit more busy and away from his computer maybe.

"I see..." He said. Sometimes he felt amazed for the great abilities of his son, so much at the point he felt overwhelmed for his talent. "Uh... Flint..."

"Hmm...?" He lazily asked

"I've been thinking a lot lately about this and... I want you to work at the bait shop with me" Curiously enough, the young inventor was taking a sip of water from a bottle, when he heard that he choked with the liquid and wheezed, coughing as well and looking at him with disbelief, "Flint, I also need a hand at the shop, and you have to find an actual job as well."

"How many times did we even talk about this, dad?" He asked annoyed, "I don't want to work at the tackle shop, inventing is my thing, it's my life and you know that...! And mom always believed in me..." Mention her made their chest ache. It didn't matter if it's been already almost eight years since she passed, their love for her was such that when she died, nothing ever was the same again "Please..."

There wasn't an answer coming from his father, who wasn't really expecting this time for his son to mention his deceased wife. None of them had really overcome the pain of the departure, and Flint even less, because he was right there when he heard the beeps of the electrocardiograph machine becoming a long and irritating beep... he was right there when she passed, holding her hand with his... remember that was still an open wound for him, and now it was starting to bleed again. He looked away trying to hide his face of pain, trying to pretend he didn't say a thing even if it was aching hard, taking again the bottle he started to drink a few hard gulps of water in order to calm down... he felt like a complete idiot for the mention...

Then he swore he caught something falling in the distance...

_ **Splash!** _

That indeed brought the attention of the two, the young inventor swore he saw something that suddenly fell on the water while his father turned around when he heard the sound of the water being splashed by a solid object, both of then stood up and looked to each other. It wasn't a sardine, and it wasn't a whale either as there weren't any in their zone, then what was it? Not dolphins either, they were used to tropical, subtropical and warm waters which normally were located near the mainland and not in the middle of the ocean like their island... he was real curious now. He needed to know what it was.

For anyone's surprise, he took out diving goggles from his lab coat, fully ready to go and check around, when he was going to jump, his father stopped him by taking his arm, "Where are you going? It can be dangerous!" He said, he raised an eyebrow when he saw his son staring at him.

"That looks like a sea bass over there" Wait, what? Tim turned around to look, when he didn't see anything he saw his son was already on the water swimming towards the place of the splash. "Sorry dad!" He exclaimed already in the distance, making his father rush into his boat and follow him.

Once Flint reached the exact place where whatever made the splash passed, he took a very deep breath and dived in, taking out a water lantern from under his lab coat as well. What a nice thing to be always prepared just in case, such a shame he didn't bring the frog paws to swim faster... he swam more around looking for whatever it was, the bottom was becoming darker and he was running out of air quick, only twenty seconds since he got in, he still had forty seconds to one and a half minutes of air before losing his conscience, maybe less because of the pressure of the ocean... then he saw something – no... someone...? He swam closer, it was a _she_...

It looked like a little girl, only ten years old as much as he could see, pale skin, long and kinda curly brown hair, with part of her clothes tattered, mostly the lower part of her dark-blue t-shirt exposing open wounds. The thing that called his attention the most was the fact that she was carrying a sword on her back, but how did she end up there out of sudden? Oh well that was a question for later, the priority was take her to the surface as fast as he could before she ended up drowning.

Making fast calculations with the factors he was having: an unconscious girl he needed to carry up to surface, using just his foot without the frog paws to give himself more impulse and only an arm as he would carry her under the other one, the remaining time he had of oxigen before passing out and how long would it take him to get back up. Oh God it was harder than it seemed to be... Okay, okay, at least he spotted his father's boat upon them, and also how he just tossed the lifesaver to the ocean expecting for him to get it again. Quickly he tried to swim up with her under his arm as the planned, moving his limbs as fast as he could do, but he was running out of air at the same time... darn it... '_What do I do...' _He thought desperately rushed. He looked down to her, then to the surface, he had this option but...

It was time to take a major risk...

Feeling bad for what he was going to do, he released the girl and quickly swam to the surface, taking a real deep gasp of air, just when his father heard him he went to the side where he was, and before he could say a thing, "Dad I need ropes now!" He shouted, "NOW!" He exclaimed again, his orders were followed as his father tossed him a long bunch of ropes, quickly getting ready he dived in again towards her, wrapping the rope under her arms and swim back to the surface, then passed the rope in the inside of the lifesaver and stared to pull up as fast and hard as he could.

The despair he was feeling was such he didn't know what he would do next, and once he saw her body approaching he took her from under her arms and pulled her up, placing her around the lifeguard attached to another rope aboard. Pulling the rope twice his father understood he could pull up, taking out the girl out the water first, becoming highly surprised to see her, then quickly proceeded to take his son out of the water, right when he was going to ask what was happening, he proceeded to check on her.

Darn it, of course she wasn't breathing! Okay, okay, he had to push her chest hard to make her spit the water out of her lungs with a CPR technique... so placing his hands together, one upon the other he started to push, over and over again nonstopping, it couldn't be late, right? It just couldn't be late... two, four, six, ten minutes without taking a pause, so that meant his whole effort was completely useless in the end? Come on, she was so young to end her life at a tender age of ten! It just couldn't be... right? It couldn't be... "No... no, no no no!" He repeated over and over again as despair took over, Tim tried to make him calm down but it was futile, from pushing he started to smash, and incredibly she suddenly jumped and coughed all the water, just to fall down again unconscious, breathing propperly this time...

Indeed that was a real stressing moment... the fact of seeing her breathing again made him let adrenaline rush all over his trembling body, indeed a real, _**real **_close one... it was an actual miracle... he checked her pulse again, it felt low, it could be because of the time she got exposed to the cold water of the salty ocean, but hey! At least, at very least he managed to save her life... "Flint, what is...?" His father wanted to ask as he covered him with a towel, he just shaked his head without knowing the actual answer.

"I just... found her floating deep in the ocean..." He said panting, still trembling and shaking a bit. Now there was actual light he could see her better, and he was surprised by how beaten she looked like. "I almost couldn't save her..." His levels of confusion were high, too high, but there was another priority than that, and then took a real deep breath, then just noticed this crimsom liquid mixed with the water on the floor... his eyes got wide open when he saw that, and quickly moved her to a side noticing an wide open wound on her left side, he didn't notice it with all the rush! "We gotta take her to the island as fast as we can!" No... it wouldn't give them enough time... the hospital was on the other side, in front of the coast as well but on the other side of the island. "Dad I need whatever you have right now! I have to secure this wound or this time she may not survive!"

Holy Christ... this became more stressful than it was already... on a bright side, at least he already treated that kind of wounds himself as a way to avoid a hospital again in his life, it was his least favorite place though, with enough justifications if we look back. He turned her body around and saw the wound better, even if it wasn't a real deep one, it was bleeding a lot, and it was in a sensible zone of the body as well, again, he thought was a real miracle she was still alive to that moment and how she was being real strong to survive even if she was that young.

It didn't take any longer for Tim to come back with some stuff they could use to apply a tight tourniquet upon the wound as there wasn't another way now, and once he secured the knot, he took another deep breath trying to relax his body and everything that was going on. He raised up his hands a bit, feeling them trembling terribly... it's been a lot of stress for the day...

"What are we going to do with her, skipper?"

"I'll take care of her myself..." He said, indeed taking his father with low guard again. "It'll be alright, I can handle this myself. It's like taking care of myself after some accident with my inventions anyways."

"Are you sure you want to do it?"

"I don't want to go to the hospital either, why should I lie to you about that?" That was now an expected thing for his father now. "Besides, I found her, it's my responsibility take care of her." Sometimes it was real surprising when he actually took a mature decision in his life, and this probably was one of those times. "I won't stop you from calling a doctor if you want, but I can do it myself as well..." And it was true.

He got a glance from his father, a deep stare hidden under his big unibrown as if he was trying to decide if it was a good idea or not... "Alright..." Without saying anything else he went to the captain's cabin as his son got a towel for the girl, wrapping it around her to try to make her recover some corporal warmth. Her skin was too pale, she would probably get sick after all of it, probably with a cold. Just think about it made him groan slightly, the job ahead wasn't going to be easy.

After a few minutes they were back to the docks, Tim carried her up on his arms to then put her on the back seats of the car with some help of his son. There maybe were some curious people looking at whatever they were doing, raising an eyebrown to see them carrying what looked like a body...? It was better leave before the police arrived, right? Oh well, Earl would go to their house later when he finds out... he lived next door anyways.

Once they arrived, the young inventor personally took her to his lab to take care of her wounds, first of all by getting her dry... oh wait... that meant he had to get her... well he blushed hard when he got into realizations about it. Okay, okay, there was no reason to panic, it was just human anatomy anyways, wasn't it? He was just going to help her out with her wounds and stuff so that didn't make him a complete creep, right? He shook his head trying to keep it together and focus in what was real important.

A while later, like an hour or something he got her wounds treated, her body cleaned and the salt in her hair washed away; he made her use one of his shirts as an oversized dress, a black one that said _I got the brains_ he didn't use that often as her clothes were tattered. The wound that was heavily bleeding early, thank goodness got closed, but still he covered it just in case; now just took her to his old bedroom downstairs that now worked as a guest room and gently left her on the bed, covering her with the bed sheets... he looked her closely now, carefully without rush... her face... it felt familiar, as if he already saw her somewhere else, why? Or maybe she looked like someone he met in the past? Someone familiar he forgot? He couldn't tell, he didn't really care as much as he should in that moment... or maybe it was just his head.

The thing he wondered the most is how did she fall out of sudden into the ocean, and why she was carrying a freaking sword – that now was in his lab for reasons. Why'd someone beat a girl like that as well? Probably he'd get his answers after she wakes up again. And at least she haven't shown any sights of getting sick like– "Achoo!" He sneezed, "Oh no..." With everything that's been happening he completely forgot about checking himself... hopefully it wouldn't be too late to get an anti-flu and get a hot-water bath for a good while to prevent himself getting more sick than just the sneezes.

And slowly he left, had his bath, an anti-flu, having dealt with a curious Earl who already got the news about the little girl he found floating in the ocean and left without taking an eye out of him as usual, and a snack, it was already night. Still some things were wandering throughout his entire head and probably some details could be flying straight up from it, he still was curious enough to find out more... With so many things going on in his head, he slowly fell asleep on his rooking chair as he started to snore softly, the day's been long and stressful, and he deserved a proper break.

Life still could be too iffy and unfair most part of the time, also whimsical, and pretty much always: wrongful, but this time, maybe it could just bring up a new surprise...

Just maybe...

No one knows what lurks for tomorrow anyways...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): Cannery High is the name of the local high school according to the CWACOM series in case you're wondering. As a side note for this, I'm not exactly taking it as cannon, just probably taking up some concepts and names from there.


	2. The Lockwoods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_And sometimes I get nervous_  
_When I see an open door_  
_Close your eyes, clear your heart_  
_Cut the cord_

_Human - The Killers_

* * *

It's been like three days already... since the girl arrived to the house. The day after they found her, they called a doctor to give track to her health, surprisingly for everyone, when the moment to check her wounds came, she had pretty much none, and the one that threatened with her life was already gone, of course that brought the attention of the scientist a lot because it just couldn't be. At the same moment he decided to probably, just probably take a DNA test to see what's the thing that made her recover so fast, and then he screeched out loud...

Such a nice timing, wasn't it? Pretty much a lot of his glass-made instruments were broken a day ago because of a mischievous and crazy monkey he owned, and some of them were fully necessary to make the tests he wanted to do, like some of the tubes that were now broken, and it'd take a few days to get everything back to normal... yes, he was blaming his luck way too much now. The perfect thing that could've happened to him indeed in so long was having a new and special case that'd help science to go in a new direction and all his stuff were ruined. Perfect.

And then in the other hand that was a good thing, right? Because when she wakes up he'd be able to make questions to her and stuff, it was unsure her reaction after she wakes up so a nice thing at least was just not snitch when he wasn't being called... for now of course. At least he could "play" a bit with that sword... right?

Going to the former room of the inventor, we can see the little girl starting to wake up, she moved her head to the sides for a moment, contracting and stretching her limbs a bit as she yawned; slowly her eyes opened, revealing a pair of slightly dull brown eyes that were trying to process information... her mind was trying to retrieve the last events before she passed out as her stare was straight lost in a blank point of the ceiling, then everything flashed fast, and out of sudden she sat down breathing heavily, looking to her surroundings with confusion... when did she even end there? "Someone saved me...," She mumbled almost to herself in Spanish. Looking down she saw she wasn't using her other clothes but a black over sized shirt that said 'I got the brains', she got slightly more nervous now...

Her face got this bittersweet expression, as if she actually wasn't expecting anyone to save her life, her little body trembled a bit for a moment, then stabilized again, looking around the room he saw faded blue tapestry on the walls with the design of vertical rhombus, her bed sheets were science-themed with flasks and test tubes all over it. There was also an old home-made computer that reminded to an old Apple Macintosh computer on a desk in front of a covered window with some modifications if she wasn't wrong with her impression. Next to the bed there was the night stand with a lamp, at the feet of the bed there was the door, and a few inches away from the door there was a bookshelf full of several different stuff like books and other things scattered.

Slowly she moved and stood up, feeling slightly dizzy, wobbling side to side for a brief moment to then recover it as she used the night stand to lean on... "Okay... just breath...," She said once again to herself in Spanish, breathing in and out slowly one, two, three times to clear up his mind... it worked. Wherever she was she got to get out, right? Or not? Where was she anyways? Was it a safe place? So many questions and it was so hard where to start actually. Could she trust whoever who saved her...? "I don't think so..." She quietly mumbled...

Due the fact of her barefoot condition, slowly and sneakily she got out of the room without giving any hints to the owners of the house that she was already awake, looking carefully to the sides to see if there was anyone around. It'd be perfect for her to get out if no one was around... there was this door at the end of the hall and a door next to the room where she got out. First, she checked the one at the end, only to find out the bathroom of the house... of course she used it briefly to do her needs, and then got out as if nothing happened. Checking again the hallway, he slowly sneaked into the door next to her room...

It felt nostalgic...

The walls had a tapestry with faded yellow tones with the design of flowers similar to the blue room, it felt quite sad if she was honest, as if something was actually missing in there; for the size of the bed she could tell it was the room of the owners, and the room where she was staying was their son's, but where were they now? Did they leave her alone on purpose...? No, she didn't really think so, nobody in its sane mind would actually leave a complete stranger alone... slowly she got out from there without looking back, leaving the door exactly as it was before she got in; then she turned around with her mind thinking that no one would notice anything, just to jump straight to the ceiling out of surprise when she saw Tim Lockwood standing behind her with arms crossed, screaming out surprise... and now she was on the floor upon her butt, afraid and her cheeks burning in shame...

"I-I-I'm so sorry...!" She apologized nervous, this time in English, "I-I know I shouldn't be roaming without permission and-and...," Her breathing was quick, as if she was struggling to hold down a panic attack, "It wasn't my intention to wander around like this..." She mumbled looking down, closing her eyes tight trying to not let out the tears get out.

The old fisherman felt bad for her in that moment, she was so small and seemed so vulnerable, indeed for her reaction he could actually tell she wasn't actually meaning to sneak around, or at least, not _steal _something from there, just having gotten carried for curiosity around the house. "It's alright little girl...," He said, approaching his hand to her a bit to help her to get up. Hesitantly she took it and stood up. She was indeed real small in comparison to him, still looking down... there was something falling down her cheeks slowly, "Oh dear... don't cry..." He said again, with one of his fingers upon her cheek stopping a few tears "I heard that every teardrop is a waterfall, don't be scared. I'm not a shark to eat you... I'm promise I'm not mad at you."

It was quite hard to calm her down, showing up that indeed she was feeling scared, but after a while, at least she managed to control herself, although she still was shaking slightly. Her behaviour made him wonder what did happen to someone so young like her to be so shaken up like that, but he just wouldn't ask now... maybe in another moment when she felt less stressed... he was expecting her to say something, but for his big surprise, she never said a thing, not even when he heard her stomach growling... he passed her his hand again to take her to the kitchen, and again, she reluctantly took it, feeling so petty in front of him apparently. Once there he gave her seat, she was still a bit small, or maybe the table was too tall, in any moment she didn't say anything else...

"What's your name, little girl?" He asked trying to start up a conversation.

There was again silence for a while, as if she was still doubting about giving any information about her, then, "I'm Alice..." She didn't say anything else.

"Nice to meet you Alice, I'm Tim Lockwood, you can just call me Tim if you want." She looked at him a little bit, then smiled a little. It was almost imperceptible, but it was something, wasn't it? "Uh... I'm sorry if the food is not of your liking, there's not a lot of options over here asides of sardines..."

She didn't say anything for a while, which pretty much had him worried... "Where am I...?" She asked shyly.

"We're in the island of Swallow Falls." Tim said, "We used to be famous because of our sardines, but one day we went to bankruptcy as our main source of money shut down, and the States stopped sending us food some years ago."

"So you have to get everything they don't want..." She added, this time he got surprised. "I understand..." A clever girl indeed, he nodded at her in response. "An economy that sucks and everyone's got to eat something they hate..."

"We got used to it, though," Not everyone of course, but most of them had to resign to it. Only some people could get some things from the States – if they went there personally of course with whatever money they had, and sometimes the Lockwood family was able to get some stuff from New York. "Oh hey, I found canned soup." Alphabet soup in fact.

"I don't mind it honestly...," At least she was being a bit more talkative to him now, "It's fine..."

He just got ready the food and sat down near the girl, not so close either to not bother her that much due her retracted behavior, it was a slight progress that she was already talking to him a bit more than a while ago. "Why don't you tell me something about you?" He asked, "Where are you from?"

"A small country in South America..." The reply this time was a bit more faster than the last ones she gave, apparently she was just starting to get some trust towards him now. "It's called Paraguay. We don't have a shore to the sea." She was so far from home, how did she end there then? It didn't just make sense in his honest opinion, so many leagues away, he wondered what about her parents, if they were even looking for her, he wanted to ask but remained shut, passing to another question, which was her age... she remained silent for a moment, "I'm ten years old..."

Flint was right then...

The smell of the soup and the sound of her stomach growling made him remind about the food, passing her a hot bowl of steaming soup that actually tasted good for her, even making her smile a bit more than before which still was an actual and real progress. It didn't take long before she was done, thanking for the food and going to her temporary room. He looked to the side of the bowl and saw she actually left something written...

So that's her full name then...

"Hello dad." Flint said as he got into there.

"Son, she's awake." The eyes of the inventor lit up when he got the news, before he could go to check on her, his father stopped him, "Wait for her over here, son. She's not really... uh... communicative, neither... uh..."

"Outgoing?"

"That..."

Oh... oh well. It didn't take long before she came back, stopping out of sudden when she saw the young inventor, then stepped back taking her distance, making them notice certain hostility/mistrust. Alice looked to the old fisherman first, then to the scientist. "Hello, I'm Flint, what's your name?" He asked nicely, smiling at her trying to make her gain some trust to him. She didn't answer this time. "I saved your life and brought you here, you're safe, don't worry." He said again still smiling, trying to get her less (apparently) stressed. She seemed... afraid? "Hey, don't be afraid if that's how you feel, I won't hurt you, I promise." There was still no answer from her, just an intense look straight to his blue eyes like trying to find a hint of darkness in his intentions. Finding pretty much no other choice, he extended his hand to her, making her look at it for a moment, to then hesitatingly take it... "It's alright, see? You've got nothing to fear." She didn't reply once again.

Without their realization the old fisherman left the room leaving them alone, with it the girl retired her hand away from the inventor's still showing a lot of mistrust from her part, seeming much more out of place with him staring closely to her... "W-why are you looking at me like that...?" She asked, evidently stressed.

"I'm sorry but... have we ever met? I can swear I've seen you somewhere else, but I don't know where..." Three days later and he still haven't sorted out why the feeling was still there. The more he tried to figure out the more confused he found himself, and it was really, really annoying. She shyly shook her head with the question, making him sigh, "Maybe it's just me and my head playing games on me... I don't know... but I can swear that I've seen you somewhere else, I don't know where exactly..."

"No... we never met..." She mumbled shyly, "This is the first time we're talking..." And, it was true though.

"Oh, sorry then... just one question... by any chance isn't your name Alicia?" The look of surprise she got when he said that name was such he actually got surprised as well, "Alicia Galiano, isn't it?"

"Who told you my name?!" She exclaimed angrily, or better said scared, giving him the hint that he nailed on it.

"That's why I'm asking you if we ever met... your name is on the back of my head for some reason, but I don't actually understand nor know why." Then he sighed again, "Sorry for bothering you... it's not my intention..."

"I-I'm sorry..." She apologized too, "I'm just... real awkward..."

"It's alright, don't worry. I get to be like that as well like... a lot."

Of course it was true, something that made her smile a bit, indeed he noticed her starting to gain a bit more of trust towards him, probably having socialized a bit with his father opened her a bit more. He asked her to follow her to his former room and took out some clothes from a drawer. He explained her that his father went to the mainland the day after she arrived to get her some proper clothes to wear asides of his oversized shirt, giving her a smaller orange shirt with familiar stamps of white flowers, black shorts and a couple of slippers... "It wasn't necessary to get me all of this..." She told him still in a slightly shy way, he didn't reply but just give her a smile, a toothbrush and a towel.

Around ten minutes later she got out again fully dressed, with her hair wet and bright as she washed it, drying it with the same towel and then shaking her head like a dog, giggling softly as her hair became messier and curly. Despite her longer hair and her small size, he had to say it, it felt like he was seeing a reminder of... wait there was something missing... he went to his father's room and came back, removing some hairs from her face he carefully placed a blue head bang so her face would remain visible... indeed she was reminding him a lot from his mother... he couldn't help but curve a small smile with the memories he still had about her...

He coughed once, trying to put himself together for a moment before asking her to follow to the backyard, placing his hands on his pockets and trying to relax a bit more before speaking, he closed his eyes for a brief moment and then opened them again a bit, just a little bit more calm, to then go to his laboratory. In a first moment before they did, she stopped and looked to the enormous edification there surprised, looking to every single detail she could catch with one glance, to then spot the weird entrance made with a Porta-potty... and feeling weirded out when he said, "This is where the magic begins." Of course there was a real awkward silence for a few moments, "Oh! No! I mean– t-this is the entrance to my lab!" It was too late as he blushed a lot, scratching the back of his head in the process feeling shame now... he should get a book about how to talk to people indeed, it's been a long while since he actually had some human interaction with somebody else.

Opening the door of the portable restroom, they got in, when they closed it, it suddenly sent them upstairs with a _swoosh!_ And the speed made them crash against the sides, the ceiling and the floor, forcing them to crawl out from there; there she found herself surrounded by the pink lights of the hexagonal hallway made inside a school bus, with a vault-like door at the end of it... the two of them stood up dizzily, wobbling to the sides for a brief moment and their heads spinning because of the joyride they just had; he even apologized for it because it was not something he actually expected to happen, in fact he'd give it a check because it shouldn't have happened, it was supposed to be in its classic supersonic mode to get up but that was not even close to be considered as something he would expect.

Once they were finally fine again, she followed him into the lab, gasping when she saw the inside... with all the blue lights mixed with the blue Tron-like lines all over the place, it felt like all the way to the ceiling was infinite, leaving her awestruck for a good while... "You must spend a lot of time alone..." She mumbled loud enough to make him hear her.

"What? No!" He said, laughing slightly nervous trying to pretend it wasn't true, even looking away while he laughed. Incredibly enough he felt a strong stare upon his neck that felt like saying she knew he was actually lying. Turn around and see her staring directly to his soul made him shiver a lot. "I-I'm being honest! I'm not–"

"You're lying..." She said, "I can see it... just tell me the truth..." She wasn't allowing herself to trust him but she was actually asking him to trust her, was it irony? Or it was an attempt of her to open up and know more about him first? Indeed, this was another unexpected twist, but it was a good one, right?

The mysterious girl he found floating in the sea three days ago, who was being extremely retreated with them a while ago was now trying to make him talk.

Maybe if he started with his life she would open up about hers as a way to begin with...

He went to take a photograph of his mother, he wanted to open up about it with her to give more context to his actual situation; taking his rooking chair to give her a seat, he sat around as he looked to the picture frame holding his mother's picture, then took a deep breath, "When I was young, I didn't really have friends... my mom was pretty much my only friend back then," He gave her the frame to allow a look to it, "When I was down she always used to give me support and everything I needed, she even gave me this lab coat when I was eight as an early birthday present," He took a pause, he saw her looking in silence but paying attention, "And some months after that... in September uh... there was this... tragedy... there was a fire... she inhaled a lot of toxic smoke at the defunct cannery and..."

He sniffed, slowly breaking down with the memories that were floating up to his head again, he tried to keep the tears in but he found himself unable to do that, to then look down as he felt his heart racing against his chest. He made an effort to put himself together and recover his composure, but this was one of those times it felt futile, as if he actually needed to break down one way or another after having holding it for so long... then he suddenly felt her hugging him tight, surprising him for a moment, to then do the same as tight as he could, breaking down more than before... it should be okay, right? "It's alright..." She just said as he sniffed again... when was the last time he hugged someone when he needed to cry like that? It felt nice...

Although sadness wasn't really a foreign feeling, he didn't like to feel it, even less because he never had anyone to lean on, and now... he forgot what does it feels like to have someone just hugging, not supporting just... being kind to him... it's been so long since someone has been actually nice and charming to him, and the feeling, how he felt like was so... nice... he couldn't tell how long he's been like that with her, but it wasn't more than just a few minutes until he started to break the hug, to then realize she wasn't releasing him at all... he couldn't help but keep hugging her as well, caressing her back softly.

"It's alright..." He said with a raspy voice, "It... happened a long time ago..." And sometimes he wasn't still used to it, not even a single bit. "I'm used to loneliness anyways..." Which was true, and even if he was used to it a lot since early years because of his inclination towards science and stuff, it still could sting, "I'm not... exactly liked here in the island..." He said, "Everyone sees me like some kind of stranger because, as you see... I'm real different to them... I'm the local outcast... but that haven't stopped me from keep going with what I really love... which... is inventing..." She moved from her place, seeing that she was actually crying, there was something that told him that they shared something in common, "Hey... I don't know anything about you... just remember: it doesn't matters who you are, you only need to believe in yourself and never give up..."

Those words just brought up a new stream of tears down her face, as if the kindness he was having towards her was breaking her down, probably that was the moment where he actually understood he was dealing with someone with a fragile personality, he couldn't help but clean up her face with his thumbs and hug again as if an older brother or a father he was, in any way, she hugged back in a tight way again, hearing her sniffs and feeling her face buried against his shoulder. And after a few minutes after trying to ease her, she calmed down more, cleaning her face again with her wrists... "I'm sorry..."

"Why...?" He didn't understand why she apologized, "You didn't do anything wrong..." There was no answer from her part again. "It's alright... I'm used to all of this anyways..." He smiled a bit at her, trying to make her see that everything was okay with him, "Oh well, let's... let's try to change the subject..." Now he realized, everything was real quiet in the lab. Peace and silence weren't always a real good sign if we have in mind the kind of partner he got, "Gosh... Steve! Where are you?" He called out.

"Who is... Steve...?" The little girl asked

"Oh, he's my lab partner," The inventor replied, "And I don't know what is he doing..." Again: silence and peace weren't a good sign sometimes.

They looked to the sides, pretty much everywhere, there she felt this weight on her head, he felt something like small hands upon her hair, and then when she realized there were this pair of big orange eyes looking straight to her out of sudden that made her jump and scream in surprise as she got scared, falling down, making the thing do the same, then saw how it went to hide behind Flint, realizing it was a grey vervet monkey. "Oh, and this is Steve." He told with a smile.

The monkey took a peek to her, then hid again saying 'scary' for the girl's surprise, to then hid again when he saw her move a bit. She got closer as Flint tried to convince him that she was a nice girl, grabbing him and pulling him close to her, to then place him upon her head, making her giggle a bit, "Hello Steve, I'm Alice," She said with a smile, then felt him turning around to face in the same direction to her, to then look at each other again, this time the slight hostility disappeared, making him now exclaim his name. "Oh... is that a Monkey-Thought Translator...?" She asked, surprising him once again, receiving just a nod in response, "Cool... I'd also work for deaf-mute people, so the others can actually hear what they think," He never thought about that now she actually mentions it, "I mean, signs language already exists but just a few people actually know how to use it..." She smiled at the thought.

"Actually, that's a great idea! How come I never thought about it before?" Probably just like the idea of not adding the wings to his Flying Car... "It's real practical. I'll do that when I become famous! Thank you for the idea Alicia!" The little girl looked at him in some kind of disbelief, as if she didn't actually think that her idea would be useful or something, "Hey, what's the problem?"

"Just... call me Alice..." She said, smiling a bit to him.

"Alright then... Alice." They sat around, with her sitting back on his rooking chair with Steve still upon her head, apparently liking it as some sort of nest even if he head his own box as he curled in a ball and slept again, making her giggle a bit, "Hey, I can see you like animals," She took the monkey with a smile and placed him on her arms, for him it was almost the same, he felt safe with her now, becoming once again a fluffy ball upon her lap, "And I see that Steve likes you now." He got a look from her, like asking where did he get him, "Oh, well, I found him in a cage like a couple of years ago, he was alone and was also like... two months old so, I brought him here. I guess he was part of a contraband load that passed by, as Vervet monkeys are from the East side of Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa, so it doesn't makes sense he just appeared..." He took a brief pause, then continued, "It could've been also from a group of animal rescue and his box fell to the ocean, but I highly doubt that."

Of course Tim was completely against the idea of the monkey when he first arrived to the house, mostly because he was a wild animal and needed to be either in a forest or a zoo but of course _**not**_ in a house with a backyard scientist like him, but then he thought that at least he could work as a friend for him and palliate a bit his loneliness somehow, in fact that's pretty much the other reason he made him the Monkey-Thought Translator, not just because he was curious to know what could be lurking in his mind – even if it was a really primitive brain with primitive thoughts, but to have someone to talk with... and incredibly enough his father allowed him to stay even after he ripped off his mustache. He shivered again with the memory, and even had the footage of it... as a self-note he got from that day: never give gummy bears to Steve ever again.

_**NEVER**_.

Oh well...

"Why don't you tell me something about you, Alice?" Like how did she get there and how did her wounds heal that fast for example, she blushed, "Oh, I'll tell you a bit more about me. I'm sixteen years old, and my birthday is on July, 11th so, we're like two months away from it." He was back into his 'I want my answers, please' mode but this time was on incognito mode. "Born in 1993 by the way and single child."

Alice bit her cheeks and her lower lip slightly, in a curious contrast to early, she seemed a bit more confident of answering some things to him. "I'm ten years old..." He freaking knew it, and just remember when he found her floating deep in the ocean just made him wonder some things more than before, "I was born on February 26th, 2000 when my mom just completed her college career in medicine... she's a pediatric doctor so I don't need to get a place for it at a hospital... also, I'm a single child..." She gave him a shy smile with it to then pet Steve's back. "I live with her and my grandparents... not in a same house just... crossing the street..."

"And what about your father?"

There was silence for a good while as her smile just faded away, "He left my mom after they did their things..." She quietly said, "She and my grandparents raised me..." Wow... it wasn't like a unique case, but he understood a lot what does it feels like to grow up without one of the parents, even if she actually came to the world without a father.

"I see..." That's all he could say for the moment, "Uh... and... what are you doing here...? I mean, how did you end up in the ocean...?"

There was again silence, she seemed to be recalling the events from that day, to then hug the monkey tight without squeezing. He waited for a good while, but there was no answer, of course she didn't want to talk about it, which meant she didn't just talk about it... "Flint... can I ask you something...?" He raised an eyebrow, thinking she just wanted to avoid his questions, "Just... just... you and your father... don't get too... attached to me... because I'll only make you suffer..." She sniffed, clearly trying to calm down and pretend she was alright or something, "Just... think of me as... as someone who is just... passing by... and you may never see... in your life ever again... okay...?" Okay, indeed he was feeling scared and curious now, indeed she was hiding something deeper inside and she wasn't going to tell him; not just that, but the petition actually made him feel... sad for her... there might be something deep and heavy going on with her life and she didn't want them to get involved into it. "Please..."

He couldn't say no, he didn't want to say no. It was much more now, he wanted to know, he wanted to help her in whatever her problem was! He was just like a cat (or a child): He was curious, he needed to know, he was eager to learn more and more if he had the chance to... she didn't stop looking at him, completely waiting for him to say that word with three letters... he didn't want to say it but... would that help him to gain her trust better? His mind was forcing him to say it, he didn't want to, he struggled to say it, it was too much... he looked at her, she was still staring and waiting for his answer... '_Say no, Lockwood! You can't promise that!_' He thought, he wanted to say it, he wanted to say just 'No' or 'I can't do it'... he tried to not say it... "Alright..."

Darn it! He completely groaned with some rage inside, asking to himself in silence why even say it. On the other hand, she seemed to relax a bit more with his answer... something just told him that she wasn't completely convinced for it, but at least it'd be enough to let her calm down more with it. "Thank you..." Alice said in a low voice, receiving a small (and forced) smile from his part. Now it escalated from just a mystery to something deeper... inside couldn't stop repeating to himself the word 'moron' over and over again for it...

What else to do...? "Hey Alice, uh..." He swallowed hard, trying to get down his desperate questions and growing concern, it wasn't normal, not even a single bit to hear that from such a young girl like her... and as he already launched her name, he had to think on something fast, and out of sudden the idea came, "Would you like to learn how to model glass with me?" The question didn't mean he didn't do anything in the last three days because of course he did, it was just an excuse to make her do something together and get to know her as much as he could, much more than he did now. There was this surprised look from her for a moment, to then accept the proposal.

The rest of the day they got recovered a lot of what was broken due her help, it was surprising how fast she knew how to learn everything and how smart she actually was... after they were done she was still making something, and when it was done, he got surprised: it wasn't a jar nor anything related to his laboratory but a modest, yet detailed and beautiful crystal heart... when he questioned her about it, she flinched and almost dropped it, to then hold it close to her chest and look down, he thought she actually seemed scared that he would give her a reprimend for it...

It didn't happen.

In fact he praised her for it, an act, he realized got her off-guarded for some reason, as if she was expecting him to get angry or something like that... he couldn't stop thinking she got through too much before ending there with him, hence her shy personality... she even blushed when he caressed her hair a bit, as if affection was unknown... was her family abusive to her? It just... he sighed... "What is it, Flint...?" She asked, he just smiled and took the crystal heart, got some wooden sticks from somewhere around and made a stable base for it, placing it upon his nightstand next to the frame of the picture of his mother.

"It looks good here, doesn't it, Alice?" The young inventor asked to her with a smile, Alice just seemed to be... surprised... "I gotta admit, you got a lot of talent with your hands. Have you done something like this before?" She shook her head slowly, "Oh, well, you really got a lot of talent, I admire you a lot now. It is a fine piece of art." Her cheeks grew pink with the compliment, to then give a shy smile; he looked then to time, "Oh, 11:00 PM... we should take some rest, right?"

"I guess so..."

"Okay then, let's go downstairs."

Reaching out his hand to her, they went downstairs together to her temporary (?) room, getting everything ready for her and a good night of sleep, she yawned widely when they crossed the sliding door diving the inside of the house from the backyard, covering her mouth with a hand showing her tiredness and making him chuckle, changing up the bed sheets as well for some fresh and new ones. Among all the stuff in his old wardrobe, behind all the stuff he found a teddy bear dressed with a small lab-coat he used to call Newt because of Isaac Newton... he smiled at it...

Then looked at her, and the more he saw her, the more he pondered about her petition from early... to not get too attached to her, because it'd cause him pain...? But why? Was it because she had to leave one day soon or something? He didn't know... "Flint?" Alice asked, looking at him comfused, "Are you okay?" And all he did was extend his hand to her, passing it upon her hair and then upon one of her cheeks with a serious expression, "What... what's the problem...?" She asked once again confused and blushed.

"It's nothing..." Lies, secrets and lies, "Just... if you need to talk... you can talk to me... alright?" He said with a sincere smile, wanting her to talk to him about whatever was bothering her no matter what. She just frowned a bit and nodded slightly, "And also, would you like to walk around the island tomorrow...? I can give you a tour if you want to..." His hand was still upon her face, slightly touching her hair in the process, he bit his cheeks a bit waiting for an answer, to then receive a smile and a nod, "Just when you are ready to leave tomorrow, okay?" She nodded again, "Alright then Al, have a nice night..." Newt was still on a hand, smiling, he gave it to her, "Just a small and old friend to take care of you tonight," He said, "His name is Newt, he used to be my sleeping partner when I was your age, you can have him if you want..."

"Thank you Flint..." She said with a small smile to then hug him tight, "I like him..."

"Well, I'm glad you do." They broke the hug as she hugged the bear tight as well, "Have sweet dreams Alice..." The thing she didn't expect, not even a single bit was for him to kiss her forehead in a protective-like way, "I'll see you tomorrow..." He smiled at her, she just lied down again ready to fall asleep, he didn't leave until she was completely fast asleep... he just reminded when his mother used to stay with him like that, maybe a paternally/brotherly side bloomed in him, in the same way she used to be.

Silently he left the room and closed the door gently, seeing her hugging his former teddy bear tight and completely covered with the bed sheets, to then leave to his laboratory again... slowly he got to his bed, feeling... rage? There he clenched his fists feeling like a complete idiot... "Why did I say 'yes' to her!?" He exclaimed furiously, scaring a monkey that was sleeping in his box, "Stupid, stupid moron! You fucking messed it up already" He never swears, unless he was actually real angry or something similar, then groaned a lot trying to calm down, still wondering like hell why he agreed to forget her when she leaves, he shouldn't have said that, it was a complete mistake, that's all he actually knew. He looked to his nightstand, exactly to the crystal heart he took, gently he grabbed it and looked to it: transparent, as if it just irradiated pureness, it wasn't even made of some kind of precious jewel but just a bunch of melted glass...

It was her heart... somehow...

"Fucking hell..." He swore again, "I can't do it..." He didn't actually promise he would try, he didn't mean his word, he couldn't do it anyways, "I'm a fucking idiot, aren't I...?" Without his realization, the heart was slipping from his hands, when he realized he moved his hands in the air until he managed to catch it just in time, placing it back on its base before he ended up doing something way stupid and probably getting somebody's hate for ruining her work after having praised it.

Standing up he opened the window and sat on the verge, looking to the clear, starry night. The beautiful thing of living in the middle of nowhere were those illuminated nights, even more when there was a full moon. His thoughts then drove to somewhere else, far, far away from his body maybe...

Questions...

A lot of questions...

Memories...

Open wounds...

Death around the corner...

His mom wasn't the only one he saw leaving the world...

And now he didn't want her to leave him alone again...

He didn't want to be alone again.


	3. Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_Are you lost or incomplete?_  
Do you feel like a puzzle?  
You can't find your missing piece?  
Tell me how you feel...

_Talk - Coldplay_

_..._

"_**Why didn't you save me, Lockwood?**_"

"Huh?"

The young Lockwood opened his eyes to find himself strongly tied up to a chair, upon him there was a shining light bulb that for a moment left him dazed, he tried to set himself free but he was unable to do that, becoming more and more nervous at the sudden and scary situation where he was. In any case, what was even happening and where he was now? The place seemed so familiar, oddly and painfully familiar, it was a scary situation, and he just wanted to leave...

He looked to his sides, his arms were against the armrests of a wooden chair, upper arms and chest were in the same way and his ankles and legs were against the legs of the chair as well, leaving him immobilized. "What is happening...?" He mumbled scared, he tried to look back, but he barely could do that; the place still felt awfully familiar, as if he's been there before? Who even captured him? When and why? All he knew is that he was in a basement (as much he could tell), really scared, unable to understand the situation nor know why he was there.

_ ***slap!*** _

A sharp pain crossed his face as someone just slapped his right cheek, feeling it burning now, he hissed out first to then groan, to then feel his face tilting to the opposite side as another sharp pain presented on his left cheek. What was even happening? He couldn't see his aggressor coming, as if it was some sort of invisible person, or maybe they did it when he wasn't looking? There was something missing there, a something he couldn't get properly... then, "_**Why didn't you save me, Flint...**_"

His blue eyes widened...

Another hard hit got his face, this time it wasn't a slap but an actual blow that made him flinch in pain more than the last ones did, he couldn't see another couple coming nor who his aggressor was, but he knew who she was... and yes, it's a her... "I'm sorry..." He mumbled, "I was scared... I was paralyzed... I couldn't think on anything..." Then another blow came, making him taste the metallic flavor of blood, he didn't complain, "I know you're angry at me..." Another one came again, "I know you may hate me..." And more, "I accept it..." And more, "I can't complain for it..." He felt his nose bleeding already, probably broken as well, "I'm sorry..." The last hit that came was so hard that made his chair fall down to a side, it didn't matter anymore, right?

_ **...int...!** _

He heard a faded voice from the distance...

_ **...ake u...!** _

He felt tears coming out endlessly out of his eyes, as a person stood up in front of him, hearing the sound of a gun getting ready to shot... he didn't dare to look up... he couldn't, he got no rights for it.

"Anything else to say, young Lockwood?" The female voice asked with annoyance, almost spitting all the possible venom.

He just smiled a bit, bittersweetly...

"I love you..."

He heard a click, then he closed up his eyes... it was what it was anyways...

_ **bang!** _

_ **.** _

He suddenly jumped out breathing heavily, finding himself on his bed sweating like a horse, to then feel someone hugging him tight... everything was just a nightmare at least... little Alice was hugging him as tight as she could, at the point he started to feel breathless, when she realized that she released him from the hug, to do it again, but more gently... apparently he got her scared... he pats her back trying to calm her down, "It's alright Alice... it was just a nightmare..." He said, "I'm okay..." That was a mid-key lie there... he wasn't all okay, just in part... kind of. "Did I scare you...?"

"A bit..." She admitted, "I came and saw you... uh... squirming and repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over again..." It wasn't that bad then, "Are you okay...?"

He smiled at her, "The real question is: did Newt keep you asleep last night?" The question did nothing but make her blush, as if it was a way to say it did, taking out a wider smile to her, "I'm alright Al, don't worry about me, just wait for me downstairs if what you're looking for is take a walk with me." Without hesitation she did the asked and went back to the house, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Sighing deeply, he first took a quick shower to wear fresh clothes and get ridden of all the sweat of his nightmare, when he came out he used his usual attire which included jeans, his lab coat and a simple yellow shirt under his coat, then fixed (with "fix" we mean he actually messed it up a bit more than before) his wet hair to then dry it with a towel. Before going down he opened the drawer of his nightstand and took out a folded piece of paper, unfolding it, it was the picture of someone, in fact, of a fourteen years old girl with brown curly hair, brown eyes, white skin, using a white shirt with a bright smile on her face. He looked at her for a good while, then covered his face with one hand starting to feel bad again...

It's been two years already since...

"Steve!" He turned to a side to see his monkey pal playing with a piece of paper, then looked to Flint with his bright orange eyes, "Leave!"

"Right Steve... I should leave now..." Alice was waiting for him anyways, and it was rude to leave someone waiting for a long while. He cleared his throat and placed the picture back in its place folded, scratching the back of his neck and standing up, he stretched up his limbs and went downstairs.

It was a nice day outside, the sun was shining, flowers were blooming, birds singing, some puffy clouds passing by, the ambient felt totally different when it was shiny, the faded painting of the walls of the houses seemed to recover their original colors (but of course not as vibrant as once they used to be), getting into the house he saw her sitting on a sofa, moving one of her legs up and down in an anxious way, then seemed to calm down when he got into the living room, smiling a bit and standing up. Without sharing words, as if actions were enough, they got out together.

Down the streets he talked about the island, how once upon a time they used to be famous for their quality sardines until the cannery, Baby Brent Sardines had to shut down for three reasons: the first one was that people realized sardines were super gross, so the exportation as their main source of economy went completely downhill and they had to eat all of what everybody else hated as the United States also stopped sending food to the island years ago; second was that the cannery itself was a time bomb in poor conditions, lacking a lot of infrastructure and of course endangering the lives of its workers, and finally, the consequences of the second reason: there was a fire years ago, and many lives were taken there, including the life of his mother...

"So... life here turned dull and tasteless since then," He said, "We actually wouldn't be in this way if we had the sources to order food from the United States as before but, as you see, we don't..." He took a brief pause and sighed a bit "As much as I know, the mayor is in New York doing who-knows-what, and I can tell you he's just a selfish jerk who only thinks on himself... but one day..." He looked to the sky with a smile, "I'll invent something that really works, so that the world will know my name, everyone here will respect me and treat me right, and become the best scientist of the century... maybe even join some techno-scientific enterprise such as Nano Tech Labs, or even create one of my own branch," He took a pause and looked down, the smile became smaller, yet the spirit was still there, "I want mom to be proud of me, wherever she is..." Then he looked at her with with his bright blue eyes, "I want you to know that someone can do great things if you believe in yourself and keep doing what you like... just don't ever give up, no matter how hard it can be..."

The thing that may'd ever surprise him was the fact that she just limited herself to listen carefully to what he had to say, looking at him with curiosity in her eyes and looking away a bit when he tried to make eye contact, to then look at him shyly, smiling slightly as well. His hands ran upon her hair gently, feeling it soft, she didn't actually mind it apparently, and as much as her face said, she actually seemed to like it at the same time there was the feeling that the act was like... unknown...? Then she got away a bit from him, making him raise an eyebrow confused, then he thought about her words from last night...

Oh no...

Was she trying to not get attached to him or something?

He felt his chest flinch with it, he didn't want her to do that if he was honest, it could be just a temporal goodbye if that was her reason to not want him to get some sort of emotional bound with him or his father, yet it still was... unjustified...? Right, maybe that was the proper word to define it. He respected it, even if it could hurt... besides, she asked him nicely and he accepted. He made a promise... all that passed through his head once again was the word 'moron' for it... and just know he actually said 'Alright' to her, remember how he tried to say 'No' instead made him feel hurt in a way... it was quite hard to know the first person he talked to in years requested to not get any sort of deep human bound... it could just be she was trying to protect herself as much as possible to relief the pain from a hypothetical goodbye, but still...

He bit his cheeks for a moment, trying to come up with an idea, whatever it was to start a random conversation so she could feel comfortable again, in fact said a real corny joke to start with, but there was no response asides of a face that seemed to try to hold laughs. He tried two more times, and then at the third time he finally got a reply for it, more specifically a giggle, to then go up with a conversation. It started in a shy way, to then quickly become a friendly one that made her feel comfortable again...

All the way they were talking about all sorts of things like what they liked, disliked, technology, science, telling corny jokes... but neither of them seemed to realize that the whole world looked at them with askance; maybe they noticed, but didn't care at all, being so engrossed in their bubble that made the world was just the two of them without anybody else, until...

"_**Flint Lockwood!**_"

The way the inventor got called felt like a pin popping up their bubble, as a wake-up call for both of them to remind them they weren't physically alone at all. Of course he groaned a bit, this time he wasn't doing anything wrong to get into – oh wait... sighing deeply like asking God to give him patience he turned around to face him... it was Earl...

"Hello Earl..." He said, trying to hide his annoyance knowing what could be coming from him, "What's wrong?" This was one of those times where for once in his life he wasn't doing anything asides of just walking down the street, leaving as an obvious fact that the officer didn't trust him, not even a single bit.

"You know what you are Flint Lockwood?" Earl asked jumping to the sides and making some stunts around him, Alice hid behind the inventor as he looked at the officer "A sheganeganizer," wasn't the right word 'shenanigan'? Oh well it didn't matter right now anyways, "A tom-fool, and I hope you're not back with one of your crazy science doodibopper thingies!"

There wasn't a day where he didn't get interrogated about his activities...

"What? No!" Not today at least, "I'm just giving Alice a tour around the town," Feeling her tugging his lab coat made him realize she was feeling nervous again. The police officer raised an eyebrow when he mentioned her, "The girl I found a couple of days ago?"

"Oh..." He said, then tried to look at her, but she moved to a side still hiding behind Flint, "Hey, I ain't gonna harm you! I'm a police officer! I do no harm to people."

"Sorry Earl, she's just too shy towards... new people," He still felt her tugging his lab coat, it still made him wonder what could happen to her to be like that. Well, there was the thing that parents always told to children which was to not talk with strangers, but most children tends to actually forget that or not have it in mind which was completely normal, still, her shyness didn't feel really normal at all... "It's alright though, I had problems to get a bit of her trust yesterday anyways," There was no response asides of a glance, then he tried to reach her with a hand, "Come on Alice, Earl is a good person, I promise he won't hurt you."

She tugged his lab coat more than before, to then slowly peek to the police officer and come out next to the inventor, not passing farther from where he was and keeping her distance from Earl, she didn't look up, grabbing her hands and having them down... she looked so small like that... Flint just smiled at her like an older brother, patting her back twice like telling that everything was alright and she didn't have anything to actually fear.

"So, you're Alice, huh?" He asked, she looked at him a bit nodding, "Aw, you're as small and cute like my angel son Cal!" He said, "You'd be good friends with him I guess." Would she accept to befriend someone of her age...? The inventor wondered, to give a 50/50 chance of that happening, maybe if she actually got someone around her age she would become less shy, right? Well, it was a fair thing to hope for it, it'd make her feel better with everyone around though.

There he felt a glare from him, of course it didn't mean anything good coming from the officer, there he saw him taking her a bit away from him, to then say something, look at him and talk to her again... he sighed having an idea of what he could've told her, it wasn't unexpected anyways. There he saw her stepping back as she kept looking at Earl in a slightly insecure way, to then come back to him and grab his hand tight...

"I'm sorry but I do like to be with him..." She said, her tone was still shy, yet firm, "He's a nice person despite what you're telling me..."

Wait, did he hear right? She was actually choosing to be _**with **_him? Wasn't it a contradiction to what she asked before? Or she ended up just terminating that petition? He wasn't even close to be sure of a thing, the only thing he was actually thinking about is that an actual someone was choosing to be with him for what he was and not listening to the others... there he felt her turning him around and dragging him away from the officer leaving him speechless, to then smile a bit and walk away from them as well... he did want to ask, but maybe later.

Maybe before going to sleep though.

Yeah, that sounded right...

.

They walked around for a good while, none of them passed up the glances from the other citizens to see the weirdo of the town being with an actual someone asides his mischievous monkey, and as happened before, they didn't pay them attention at all, still pretending they were alone on the streets of the town.

The more she looked the depressing things felt. She didn't pass up the details from her surroundings neither the atmosphere of the town and its dull pallet, the businesses showed up that they've seen better days; at that point they were in the downtown district known as the Sardine Circle, the lack of revenue from the now defunct source of economy that the Cannery was, showed how dried up everything was, with most of the places seeming... neglected, needing a good hand of paint as well.

Another thing that didn't pass up for her is how symmetrical the buildings were – talking about how rectangular they looked, which just keep reflecting a demoralized economy with little diversity and low culture, and talking in a more symbolic way, it was something like a representation of the "stuck in a box" mindset of the community. They passed in front of some of the old buildings from the Sardine Circle, including a_ cuizine_, a supermarket that seemed so empty and pity inside, several other buildings that only had the "sardine" name in it but weren't really related to it, a shop of used rugs...

Then they reached Waterfront Street (1), which visually felt more livid in her honest opinion, it wasn't as gray as the rest of the town, with a certain amount of "street furniture" like parking meters, streetlights phone booths and mailboxes, besides, the colors were more bright despite they still looked old. In other words, looked better than the actual Sardine Circle. They passed next to the Sardiner (2), the local diner place (hence the pun in its name), which entrance was located in a corner of a square; its façade was a mix of stucco, rock and brick, with actually nothing aesthetically appealing about it, and its awnings and windows didn't even match that showed at its best the lackadaisical attitude towards appearance of the town. Taking a peek inside (one person sitting on a table while one of the employees was lazily watching TV) she actually saw how wide the place was, her imagination made her see how full maybe was when their economy wasn't drown up...

"We used to come to eat here sometimes, when we didn't have anything to cook at home," Flint told her, "After mom passed, dad and I used to come twice a week, then we just... stopped coming as we distanced... it just felt awkward for the two of us..." He bit his cheeks for a moment, "We also used to share a show together, about a scientific sardine (3) because it was something we two liked– I mean, he loves fish and I love science, but you may know where it ended though..." There was no reply but a look, telling him she understands.

Before keeping their path around the town, he heard her stomach growling in hunger, which was a good reminder that they probably needed a brunch. He looked to his pockets for his wallet (or did he leave it at home...?) which should be somewhere – oh meatballs... he gave a quick look to her, she didn't actually say anything about being hungry, she didn't complain, and he was hungry too but... oh well he needed to pin a note somewhere to remind himself to take his damn wallet whenever he was going to get out. They could get back to the house for brunch and – eh?

He looked to Alice, who pulled his lab coat a bit twice to call out his attention easier, there she passed him a 20 dollars bill... where did she take that money? Oh wait, he forgot she was carrying some lose cash in a pocket of her tattered clothes, she probably found them and took whatever was in without their realization, and it wasn't stealing, because it was her money anyways... he felt his cheeks burning in embarrassment there...

"But it's your–" He was going to say.

"I don't mind it, Flint..." She said, "Just take it..."

The honesty in her voice was clear, still, in a reluctant way he took it, chuckling nervously, wanting to hit his head against a wall when no one was looking... come on, a ten-years-old girl giving him money because his dumb head forgot his wallet at the lab... oh well, it was what it was, right?

Then after the meal (where she ordered something vegan, as if she knew that at least they still could get fresh vegetables made in the island to mix with sardines), they kept on walking afterwards, and it didn't take any longer until they stumbled with Tim's tackle shop, he bit his cheeks again, kind of wanting to pass by for the moment...

"Hey... let's see your dad Flint..." Alice said with a small smile, which surprised him.

"Well I don't–"

"Please..." She asked with puppy eyes.

God she looked so innocent and cute at the same time. He told to himself to not fall for it and even looked away to hold up the desire to give in, but then he felt her hugging him as she keep looking at him with the puppy eyes...

Only this time.

"Alright..." And also because she was nicely asking him to do so.

She giggled happily, which made him smile, then passed a hand upon her head caressing her hair a bit; she looked genuinely happy, putting asides that face of seriousness and her shy behavior, which indeed was a huge advance in his honest opinion. For a moment her request echoed his mind again, the doubts about her origins, how he ended falling there in the ocean, why she healed so fast... a crossroads of his beliefs, his love for science and his own humanity, but quickly managed to put questions asides. There they got in. Two people were sitting in a table playing poker and listening to the TV in a random channel, the two looked at them, feeling curious for the small girl being with... the local weirdo... again they just ignored their faces.

_Ding! Ding! _The inventor pressed the bell upon the table.

His father was surely arranging stuff in the backroom.

A couple of minutes later he arrived, getting surprised to see his son there, then he noticed her behind the counter, she was shorter than the furniture so he didn't spot her before.

"Hello Mr. Lockwood," She said with a smile.

"Oh, hello Alice, how are you today?" The old fisherman asked, feeling good to see her smiling in contrast to what they already saw about her.

"We just came to say hello," Flint said, feeling slightly... awkward maybe, "Well, Alice wanted to pass by so here we are..."

She looked down shyly, but her corporal expression looked different. It didn't show fear this time but certain embarrassment, with a playful manner below the layer of embarrassment, and the more she tried to hide it the evident it became. Whatever the inventor did (which he attributed to how he gently touched her head) just made her feel good. Mood swings maybe? It was an option... his hand drifted again upon her hair, making her giggle a bit and get closer to him like a kitten to its mother (in this case, friend). Still felt weird, yet, he actually liked it a lot.

"How are you feeling today, Alice?" The old fisherman asked, the girl smiled in response, "I'm glad then." Comparing to what he saw the last day, of course he felt glad to see her smiling.

She looked to the rest of the shop, which wasn't that big either; the walls had some fishing trophies, showing that sardines could be actually slightly bigger than they seemed to be. Some fishing rods were hanging from the ceiling, illumination was right, so many kinds of bright tackles, then saw a sign against a pillar that said 'Special discount for local costumers' underlined with three bright lines, and there under it, in parenthesis, emphasizing a 'not' with red and underlining the two more words to leave it completely clear: 'But **NOT** **you** **Flint****!**'. She couldn't actually help but giggle at it.

There weren't any comments from father or son though, asides of the second one blushing again and pretending he didn't hear a thing, which was funny and quite embarrassing.

No one had to be Sherlock to know why of the sign, probably that's why it was funny.

The two people who were in the shop in that moment were looking at the scene curious indeed, they heard about the curious case of the "body" the Lockwood found days ago, and now there was a new face in town which mean the "body" was that girl there. The thing that of course called the attention of everyone out like the rest of the adult townsfolk (in majority) was to see her with the local weirdo, it was weird at the point they didn't actually know how to feel about it, if gladness or a something else. Then she asked Tim for the restroom, he gave her indications and she went straight there. Flint couldn't help but smile, and then notice a glance from his father...

"What?" He asked curious for his look, as if he could deduce his thoughts from a monotone stern look.

"Why don't you take her fishing?" He asked, "She may like to go."

"What? No!" He exclaimed, "I mean, I don't think she'd like to go fishing..." Well, it was more of him than because of her, and because he already lost a lot of time with his investigations of genetics with the incident with Steve the day he found Alice, "It's boring, you spend too much time sitting and waiting..." Not his thing either, and he had forbidden use a Flint Lockwood invention for it because quite obvious reasons.

"And it seems right for her as well," Judging her behavior, yes, it seemed the case, "I mean just look at her, I think she's patient enough for it." The more he talked the more it seemed he wanted him to spend as much time possible with her, but not in his laboratory. A relaxed ambient without rush, alone the two of them, the calming sound and smell of the salt of the sea... thinking it twice it could work to make her open up more about herself, "Besides you loved to go fishing with your mom and I..."

That wound in their hearts felt like stinging when the old fisherman made mention of it, but he wasn't wrong at all. Although Flint was a complete mess without a doubt in early days at the point he even caught his father's nose with the fishing hook once in the docks at the age of five, when it came to fish with his mom back then, he never could say "no" to the request, as she was the nexus between her genius son and her humble husband, but of course, after her death, the nexus got broken, and they seldom agreed to do things together. Now it was the perfect moment for him to go back to those early days without his father but with somebody else...

Yet the idea sounded actually nice...

"Alright dad..." He said smiling a bit, just in time for her to come back, "Hey Al, wouldn't you like to go fishing with me later?" He asked in a quite shy tone, she first looked at him in surprise, to then blush a bit and finally become a tomato, "Only if you want of course!" His brain couldn't stop repeating the same thing all over again, which was a '_I hope I didn't screw it up_'.

"Sure... I think..." She said with a small smile, he sighed in relief. Well, at least he didn't screw it up as he thought, "Whenever you want I guess..." The tone in her voice didn't mean anything else asides that she actually liked the idea and tried to not sound as if she was being just dragged to it.

"I'll get your stuff ready then." Tim said, before they could say a thing he already headed to the backroom. Oh well.

The other two people in the shop grabbed their stuff and left, leaving the seats free for the couple of friends (kind of, maybe?), who sat next to each other in silence... actually there wasn't anything to talk about again, he didn't know what to say in that moment. Such amazing skills to socialize with people, wasn't it? He took the controller of the TV and turned it on, switching channels to catch something interesting, until he got into a music channel. There was a music video ending in that right moment... then he saw another one starting, sounded like distant wind in a beginning, the video was black and white, then there was a distant-like guitar riff. He noticed Alice looking at the TV then with a glint in her eyes, he kept watching.

The ambient of the video was black with a distant light in the horizon, it seemed like outer space, the camera zoomed out as there was a UFO passing by in the distance, then the camera angle changed to show four men sitting in the spaceship that looked like taken out of a B-movie from the 80's, then looked at Alice again, she was staring now still with the glint of happiness in her eyes; looking again to the video clip, he saw now the four men looking at the camera using those cardboard 3-D glasses to then show the ship landing somewhere inhospitable, and yes, indeed was based on a B-movie due the special effects and stuff. Once the ship landed the song started to have a stronger rhythm with the addition of drums and a soft bass.

To add another surprise to the day, he heard her singing:

_Oh brother I can't, I can't get through...  
__i've been trying hard to reach you_  
Cause I don't know what to do...

Her voice was soft, as soft as the singer maybe...

_Oh brother I can't believe it's true..._  
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you,  
Oh I wanna talk to you...

"You know the song?" He asked, she nodded slightly.

"It's called Talk, it's a personal fave..." She said turning up the volume, not too loud but enough to hear it better.

_So you take a picture of something you see..._  
In the future, where will I be?  
You can climb a ladder up to the sun,  
Or write a song nobody has sung,  
Or do, something that's never been done...

What the inventor thought with the first verses was that the song maybe was addressed to someone in specific. He didn't know who as he was just listening to it, and he was already liking it if he was honest; the tempo was now slower again, he kept looking at the video clip seeing that the members of the band found a giant toy robot and jumped to it, examining it, the singer then started to sing near the face of the robot at the same time he heard her starting to sing again:

_Are you lost or incomplete?_  
Do you feel like a puzzle?  
You can't find your missing piece?  
Tell me how you feel...

He couldn't feel more related if he was completely honest...

_Well, I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak  
And their talking into me..._

He make a parallelism with the citizens of the town or any normal person he ever talked to about science, sometimes he understood what they were saying even if sometimes it was hard to understand, but most part of the time he was like a stranger in his own home... the glaces he uses to have from the townsfolk, the bullying, he could even hear them talking to his backs, whispering things he couldn't understand whenever two or more people saw him, some times he could hear them say "Look, there goes the weirdo", "I wonder what's he planning again", "He'll destroy the town one of these days...".

_So you take a picture of something you see..._

Not one of the shop of course...

_In the future, where will I be?_

Hopefully he would be already a famous inventor as he always wished...

_You can climb a ladder up to the sun,_

It was worth to try that, wasn't it?_  
_

_Or write a song nobody has sung,  
Or do, something that's never been done..._

_Yeah do, something that's never been done..._

"Something that's never been done..." He quietly mumbled as he kept hearing the song looking down, probably in a normal case he'd have a sudden idea of a new Flint Lockwood invention, but oddly enough he didn't bring anything to the point, as if the song was inhibiting his ideas and making him think more than the usual. So he just focused on the rhythms, the loud yet mesmerizing guitar bell as the sound of the drums and a powerful riff came bringing the last verses, and Alice singing again, but this time he heard more emotion hidden in her voice...

_So you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk,  
_

It heard, in his opinion as a cry of help...

_You feel like you're going where you've been before,  
_

Becoming louder and louder...

_You tell anyone to listen but you feel ignored..._

Was she actually screaming out loud without his realization or was just his mind...?

_Nothing's really making any sense at all_

_Let's talk, let's ta-a-alk,  
Let's talk, let's ta-a-alk..._

And there the song ended, looking again to the videoclip he saw the robot atracting the spaceship of the flying band with a ray from its hand, to then get it close to its mouth and eat them, funny enough the robot started to whistle and leave its place as if it was going to go to wait for another group of dummies to do the same once again, an act that actually cracked him a smile, right in that moment his father came back with some fishing stuff for the two, the inventor turned off the TV and got the stuff in the way he could, getting some help of the small girl who incredibly managed to carry out some of the complicated stuff. From there they went to the docks, to the same docks where he found her.

The day was still fine, they had their fishing hats to avoid sunburns as much as possible, vests and other stuff. He still wasn't a huge fan of fishing but, now knowing a bit more of her musical taste maybe he could learn more... it was a way to reach her core... well kind of... when he was going to ask her if she ever went fishing, he saw her maneuvering the rod with elegance and carefully, then spinning it in the air three times before letting the tackle fly away to the sea, to then sit down upon the wooden dock with a small smile...

"Nice one Al," He praised, "Is not your first time, right?" She shook her head slightly, then he did the same she did and launched his hook to the sea, smiling at it. Then looked at her, "Hey, I got something you may like," He said and took out what looked like an MP3 player mixed with a phone... kinda, "It's my Super Flint Lockwood Music Player!" It had to work, "This one got internet wherever you are, and you can play whatever song you want! You just got to imput the song you want to listen and bam! You'll have it." He hoped it to work.

She looked at him for a moment, then just took the device with curiosity, she tried to use it, turning it on, it didn't explode yet so that was a good signal, there she input something on the device and placed it somewhere safe, then waited a minute for it to load, it didn't take that much for the song to start to play, it was a piano song that sounded familiar, one he knew was called _Somewhere Only We Know _by a British band whose name he felt unable to remind, but brought him some nostalgia...

"Hey, don't you mind to be far away from home...?" He asked her without looking, only to receive a puzzled gaze from her, "I mean, if you don't miss your family, friends..."

"No..." She just said in a slightly cold way, looking away from him, "There are things that we all do for love even if it can be the most stupid thing you've ever done..." He detected a wide bitter-sweetness in her words, as if it supposed to mean 'danger' or something similar, "So... well... I try to not think about it... I'm actually used to it though..." There she seemed to realize something, "You know just... nevermind... as a short answer I don't mind it." Again he was curious to know what's she actually hiding.

"Alright then..." It was a lie, he wasn't alright with it, "Also, what's the name of the band you were singing before?"

"Coldplay," She replied with a small smile, "They're my favorite band... I love them a lot... I started to listen to their songs a couple of years ago when I accidentally stumbled with their music..." She took a pause blushing a bit, "And I'd like to meet them one day, too..." The small smile upon her face then vanished, "Their music saved my life..." Oh God, did that mean... depression? Mental illness? Then there was silence, with the music filling their air for a while.

That was deep now, whatever that was happening was deep indeed, probably a problem beyond his reach, which felt... saddening... the song changed then, there were no comments from her, neither him... the thing he couldn't avoid think is about her petition last night, adding the recent things she mentioned...

"So you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk..." He sung in a low voice, low enough for her to not listen, "You feel like you're going where you've been before..." The song just reminded him how he wanted to talk to somebody about a certain something he needed to tell to anyone and get ridden of the weight upon his back and shoulders, but he felt fully unsure to tell her about... "Achoo!" He sneezed, she looked at him curious, "It was just a sneeze don't worry." She didn't say a word, to then look back at the sea, he just bit his cheeks thinking that it was better to wait some more time for it... about what? Well, about–

"I caught something!" She exclaimed and started to roll up the line seeming excited, when the hook came, there was a small sardine hanging from there, she was beaming with happiness.

"Well done Alice!" He said with a smile, then he saw her taking out the small fish and throwing it back to the ocean, of course they were just spending time so they wouldn't eat them, at least that wasn't the plan as much as he could see. She just gave him a smile with a glint of happiness in her eyes, which made him feel proud of her...

An hour passed, with them catching a few fish and returning them to the ocean, giggling a bit at time to time, with music still filling their air and talking about random things as a way to have a way to not let silence invade them until they decided to leave back to the house. The young inventor turned off his MP3 device and placed it back in a pocket of his lab coat having learned a bit more about her tastes in music – which was fairly a something; getting everything ready they got themselves in the same way to make their way back, then...

"_**Hello nerd!**_" An annoying voice said, the inventor tensed a bit of too much knowing who was coming...

Alice turned around to see the source of the voice, he did the same with annoyance and a hint of worry in his gaze, slightly biting his lower lip. "Baby" Brent McHale was coming with a couple of his friends, the girl tensed with them coming near, the inventor had to place an arm in front of her to protect her, making her get behind him as the group of three was staring at them with a stupid grin upon their faces. "Hello, Brent..." He said, only staring at the fat blond, keeping his arm up and the girl behind him in every moment as an indication to remain hidden. The tension in the air was palpable, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I thought you were _nerding_ again with your silly inventions!" He said in a mocking tone, Flint just rolled his eyes with a groan as he heard them laughing, "Come on! As if any of your inventions ever worked out!" He felt Alice clenching his coat with certain nervousness he translated to anger, the fat teenager took a peek to her, "Who's your girlfriend Lockwood?"

"Just leave us alone, Brent!" He said angrily, one thing was mock about him, but it wasn't right to drag her into it, without his realization she was inching away, "We're not doing anything right now!"

"What are you going to do if we don't leave, nerd?" He asked threateningly, getting close to him with the couple of gorillas. He gulped knowing that it was a terrible mistake, that he was going to get an atomic wedgie even if his underwear were wedgie-proof (they always managed to pull out a solution anyways), and only-God-knew what they had planned this time, "Eh? Are you scared to talk?" Well, pretty much he was.

_ **Whack!** _

He felt a pain on the back of his head that made him flinch, then felt how something whacked his arm, back, and other part of his body, the same happened to the others, having to back off from the inventor, who turned to see Alice holding one of the fishing rods with both hands as if a sword was, her legs spreaded in attack position and her back bowed to the front... that was a reminder, she arrived with a sword on her back which meant she actually knew how to use it. Contrary to her normal retreated self, this time her gaze was stern and firm, with determination in her eyes, "Back off!" She threatened, to then get in front of the inventor.

They were going to do something, try to get close in fact, in a sudden movement she whacked them again with the fishing rod painfully, he noticed a couple of her movements, showing that indeed her technique was one of a sword user. Some action movies were enough to tell that honestly. The three bullies couldn't do anything else but back off and run away screaming that they weren't going to stop there, and once they were away from their view, she relaxed in her position by letting out a deep sigh and lowering her improvised weapon. At least they did take off the hook just in case... there she turned around to him, "Are you okay, Flint?"

The inventor seemed to snap out of his surprise with the question, "Yes, I am, thanks Alice..."

First of all: he was totally impressed to see a fierce personality coming from someone so shy like her, with a complete right-hand to fight like that with a rod.

Second: He was grateful to her for helping him like that, otherwise it could've been worse, and that was almost for sure.

Third: All the damn questions were back.

She saw her lowering down the rod with the other one, cracking her knuckles with her thumb as she seemed quite nervous and trying to ease herself down from the intense rush through her veins due the adrenaline of the moment, "I'm glad they didn't do anything to you..." She said with honesty in her voice, "I mean..."

"Where did you learn how to fight?" He couldn't hold up the question, she jumped a bit with it, he was just curious, "I just want to know. That was really impresive and brave..." He gave her a patient smile there.

"Well... I was taught a couple of years ago..." She said, "I'm not as good as I should though..." She still seemed nervous once again, "H-hey... let's just go back to the house... alright?"

Well, another attempt of her to divert the conversation to anything else but not herself nor her life, which still, in his honest opinion, felt annoying. Of course he didn't really have another option but accept her request, so without any more delays they headed back to the house, in any case, Tim would take all the stuff back to the shop the next day...

Talking about him...

"_**FLINT!**_" His screams were heard from blocks away. The teenager and the girl looked to each other worried as they rushed to the house. When they arrived to the front door they stopped as they were hearing stuff breaking down, then the sound of Steve repeating his mess like crazy, the two of them looked to each other again and got in.

What a beautiful disaster awaiting there!

Oh well...

20 minutes later and they were finally able to catch the mischievous animal and take him upstairs, giving him again the wooden spoon and the bucket to bang and get entertained for a good while, then go back down and make a clean-up for a long hour, with any invention of Flint made for said task ultimately forbidden (also, for obvious reasons) which of course made him groan as well, but at least in the meantime he had Alice to talk with. He noticed that she had her times to be retreated and others to socialize with him a bit more than the usual, in any case he considered them as progresses on their curious friendship (which still had in part, a scientific purpose). Once done they both had a shower, to then meet up in the laboratory again where she helped him to keep re-making the broken stuff from days ago, which quickly leaded them to night already.

It wasn't that late either, around 11-and-something PM, the inventor accompanied her downstairs to her room to tug her on the bed and wish her a goodnight, pass her Newt the bear, and give her a goodnight kiss... God! It felt so weird yet good, his softest side showing up with her... he couldn't help it, he actually liked it a lot. Again, once she fell asleep he left the room silently, to then stretch up his limbs and go back to the lab with a serious face with the images of the ten-years-old swordswoman, but instead of seeing her using the rod, he actually pictured her with the sword she was wearing when he found her...

Making a throwback to her movements, her lunges were precise in points where, in a normal case would cause a severe wound that would need some good points to stop the bleeding, in another case slightly farther, it'd be possibly meant to kill with enough pressure and strenght that, hopefully she didn't own, but judging the height the weapon had, he hightly doubted about it. Grabbing her weapon by the belt of the scabbard, he carried it next to a scanner and left it against the metallic body of the machine, sighing deeply he proceeded to unsheathe the large blade of the European-like sword...

He was in shock to see it: the blade was perfect, in a dark-grey tone that didn't have any single imperfection nor scratch on the surface, which was amazingly surprising, it reflected the lights of the laboratory in a perfect way, and the way he was holding it, well, he felt powerful... as if he was actually able to slice the entire planet with a single swing. As much as he was feeling it he couldn't believe that it was an amazingly light weapon, only needing a hand to raise it, Steve looked at it closely too, with his eyes wide open in surprise, saying "Shiny..." as he reached out a hand, and then jump away because of a sudden movement of the inventor.

"You're right Steve, this thing is so shiny..." First of all, before doing anything else, he decided to focus and placed the weapon on a large surface, to then turn on the scanner and wait for the results in one of his screens, and a while later: "What?! This doesn't makes sense at all!" At least, a total of two percent of the components of the sword were an alloy of the hardest metals in Earth, which were steel, titanium, tungsten, inconel and chrome, "98% percent of the rest of the components made of an unknown component?!" He looked again to the blade, whatever the other component was, seeing the molecular structures of the metals all together, he got into a very shocking conclusion: "The sword is indestructible..." At least the blade was indestructible and light like a feather.

He couldn't avoid giving the weapon another glance and get back to it. Even if he wasn't exactly a blacksmith (in the sense of forging weapons of course), he had to admit that it was probably one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen... now the hardest part for him was get his mind back to business and find out what the 98% of unknown metal actually was, as he was like a bug attracted to light. Like any good scientist in its field, he needed to make some tests, but in this case it wasn't related to that but a genuine curiosity, how did it actually feel to handle a sword.

One hand on the handle, the cover of it didn't feel worn out at all, then another one; he felt powerful. Then, he took it up, he felt powerful once again, as if the sword was giving him the confidence he needed to take anyone down; frowning his lips and raising it up, he quickly swung the weapon down before screwing it up, just like she did with the fishing rod, hearing the blade cutting the air in a sweet metallic sound... the only thing is that he did a spin due the light weight and his own inexperience, quickly putting the sharp point down against the floor with his blue eyes wide open in surprise with a joyful glint... he had to be careful to not get severely injured for a simple stupidity.

Licking his lips he made another attempt to raise it up again, the blade was still calling his attention: so light, long and indestructible... his brain was repeating himself several times something like 'Must... repress... stupidity...' Well, there was this cartoon show he used to watch a lot when he was a child asides of that one of the scientific sardine, he first shook his head trying to get the ideas incoming ridden from there and get back to real business and try to repress a childish as hell behavior incoming... but that sword was just impulsing him to do it... "No, no, stop it Lockwood!" He said red, "You're already a grown up teenager and you don't do these things anymore."

* * *

_ **5 seconds later...** _

Now we see him standing in the middle of the lab, not using his coat for some reason, with the scabbard of the sword hanging on his back. He giggled several times like a fool, having wanted to do that for a good long while already; he took the handle of the sword with a huge grin on his face, "For the power of Stormderia," He exclaimed, then unsheathed the sword and raise it in high "I am the powerful _Thunder Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk!_" The loud chirping of a hawk and his own (?) voice were heard in the background, funny enough with special effects of thunders and lightnings around.

"Stormy!" Steve exclaimed as he hid under a table scared.

He was playing a fool of himself alone now... he swung the weapon down, hearing the metallic blade cutting the air once again, it sounded like music for anybody's ears who had a sensible hearing, then to a side, realizing that even the air seemed to change with the movement of the blade, leaving a quick trail of light in every swing; he kept going like that for a while, amused like a child playing with a toy – but this time was a real weapon so, almost. The "act" ended when he cut down a wooden plank with a clean slice, for a moment he thought nothing happened, to then see it falling in two to the floor... the blade was so perfect that he was seeing the results now...

But why was she carrying it anyways? And where did she get it? Of course were things that didn't make any sense at all yet, and the pieces of the giant puzzle she supposed to be were so scattered and so small that he didn't actually know how to build it. Carefully he placed down the sword again and took out the scabbard from his back ready to sheathe the blade back in its place, at the moment he put it upside down to look at the details of the case, something slipped out there to the floor calling up his attention, he took it, it was a folded piece of paper covered with a plastic film for some reason, he opened it...

He didn't understand...

It was large, rectangular piece of paper that looked like those ones that uses to hang on those Japanese wind chimes, he couldn't just figure out what was written on the paper: there on the very middle was something written in Japanese, he bit his cheeks a bit trying to figure out though, he knew a bit of the language so he had to know... "Sa... kka... ku..." He raised an eyebrow confused, the symbols around the word seemed so messy and nonsensical, "Why does this piece of paper says 'illusion' though?" He wondered out loud, still biting his cheeks carefully... another mystery added to the list, possibly...

Or probably it was nothing...

Folding back the piece of paper in the same way he found it, he slid it into the scabbard and did the same with the blade, placing it back on a dark part of his lab... he sighed deeply, Steve looked at him with curiosity for a moment, like wondering what could be roaming the mind of his owner; it was day two of knowing her, he still had his questions, she still was keeping away some secrets from him which felt quite annoying, he still wanted to know about her biology, but at the same time it was still his moral and integrity against his scientific side... there he got to his bed and flopped against it, to then look to the crystal heart she gave to him the day before... it still felt like she gave him her actual heart...

And next to it there was the picture of her mom, he sniffed and whimpered, "Oh mom... I wish you were here..." He whispered with a hint of sadness, looking at the photograph, "You wouldn't believe how wonderful and smart is Alice... and how she quite of reminds me about you..." That still was true, she may be young, but physically looked like his mom, not exactly of course, but some features were so familiar, "She even defended me from Brent today... and I guess she actually sees me as a friend... something almost no one did before... but there are some things she doesn't wants me to know... and I'm feeling totally worried about what can it be..."

There was this small tear rolling down his cheek, his guard was getting down again letting his feelings kick his system... again so many questions... memories...

A silent agony of his lonely life...

He didn't want her to leave him alone again... it's been two times already and he didn't want her to leave too...

One more thing crossed his head before darkness surrounded him:

Alice complete trust...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): The name of Waterfront Street has been taken out of the art book of the first movie (which I gladly own to add a few more details to this version of the story), which, as mentioned in the chapter, is the address of Tim's tackle shop.
> 
> (2): Can't remember if the Sardiner was a thing in the movie, but it was a thing in the series and the Art Book, which I'm using to take more accurate references.
> 
> (3): It's also a show from the series, as mentioned, about a scientific sardine.


	4. New friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me

_Are you a sleeper or a mortal soul?_  
Are you the devil with a heart of gold?  
You and I got the right stuff

_The Right Stuff - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds_

* * *

"Why can't you leave me alone...?"

** _*clank!*_ **

A giant sword almost got her, getting stuck against a rocky wall behind her, having got the blade of it grinding her neck, her gaze was fixated to the front, showing fear in her eyes as tears were rolling down her cheeks, she swallowed hard, completely frozen with her arms and against the rock behind, she was on the ground, staring at a tall, dark figure in front of her... all what could be distinguished was a couple of bright yellow orbs as eyes with a torn pupil, apparently the long and thick weapon was being held by the mysterious being.

"Why should I leave alone a pathetic and filthy weakling like you...?" A male voice asked coming from the dark and tall shadow, "When you are something I want to get ridden of to fulfill my vendetta against them..." A hand reached out from the darkness, grabbing the neck of her shirt as she got lifted up like nothing, getting stomped against the rocky wall hardly. Her body was shaking terribly...

"Please... just let me go..." She whimpered.

In a sudden moment, the grip of her shirt passed to her face as she got stomped against the wall behind, to then her her face grind at top speed against the surface, leaving a trace of it until she reached the end, rolling several times on the ground, she didn't move once she stopped, feeling too weak to move an inch, and her face did burn a bit of way too much, leaving large scratches all over her face.

She made an attempt to stand up, to then feel a kick on her chest that sent her flying a few meters away from her previous spot, spinning in the air violently, at the moment she was going to fall again, the process was repeated as she was kicked away once again, and the process was repeated one, two, five times in total until her body heavily fell again, making her groan... there she felt a foot on her back crushing her against the hard soil making her whimper more, "Come on little princess, are you tired already?" The man asked again with venom in his voice, "Come on! Fight me! Or are you a coward?!"

"I don't... wanna fight anymore..." She said in a low voice, feeling way too tired to raise her voice, "Please... I just wanna go home..." The man raised up his sword, holding it upside down to impale it on her, in a sudden movement she barely avoided it, yet getting a cut on a side. Not too deep, but it needed to get a good treatment and some points to get healed, "Leave me alone... just leave me alone..." In any moment she didn't sob, just tear up uncontrollably because of the fear she had.

Most part of time the desire of ending with her life was bigger than anything in the universe...

Sometimes, she just wanted to live a peaceful life again...

This time was the second thing...

"Such a whiny little piece of shit..." The man hissed again, clenching his teeth apparently, there he grabbed her from an arm and raised her up, "And you call yourself a–"

"I'm not like them..." She said looking down tiredly, "I hate to be related to them... because that's my only sin... I'm only paying for the broken plates..." There she looked straight to his eyes, "You are not strong enough to fight him... and you're downloading your rage upon me..." A sudden sharp pain crossed her face, having received a heavy punch.

"I'm not a weakling like you, stupid little princess!" He exclaimed, there was a hand on her neck as they went up to the sky straight to outer space, with the man covered in a white aura, "Come on! Fight! Struggle! I don't fucking care but do something!" He shouted, she didn't reply, which just brought out an angry groan, "Ah! You're so pity! Tell me what's your purpose in this life!" Again there was no reply as he stopped somewhere in the outer space again, holding her neck tight and making her look to his eyes. "What is your true purpose in this meaningless life?!"

"What do you mean... with that...?"

"Who you fucking are! Why are you still alive and why are you still fucking fighting me! You have none asides of the natural instinct of living, and that's so pathetic and pity that only makes me feel angry!"

She had none... again she lacked an answer to him, with a drifted off gaze. The man gave a spin and tossed her away towards the void of the cold space, to then raise a hand towards her... a burning feeling got her body as she was dragged away. For moments she only felt pain and didn't hear anything...

Then...

_ ***splash*** _

.

Alice suddenly woke up gasping for air, sweating and tearing up uncontrollably, clenching her bed sheets just like Flint the day before, the only difference is that she found herself alone in the room... it was just a nightmare... she flopped back again breathing heavily, to then take Newt the bear and hug it tight trying to calm herself down, she closed her eyes and repeated herself that everything was alright and nothing was going to happen, "Bones, sinking like stones and all that we've fought for..." She sang in a low voice, "Homes, places we've grown, all of us are done for..." Slowly her breathing started to regulate once again as she kept singing softly, finding peace in music... slowly her anxiety started to decrease, still her hug against Newt was tight...

Once she finally managed to fully calm down, she stood up and went to the bathroom to clean her face and brush her teeth, then come back and have a change of clothes plus breakfast. Some corn flakes with milk was enough for the morning though... there was a deep sigh from her part, unable to keep thinking that she was abusing of their kindness as Tim pretty much went to spent whatever he had of money to get some normal stuff for her asides of the sardines and even some of the clothes she was using in that moment, they just did it like nothing while she was still out so... she couldn't actually complain...

Right?

Done with breakfast, she did all the dishes and placed them back in their places, clearly she was alone there in the house and Flint was in his lab for sure, which meant, too, that the old fisherman was in his shop or somewhere at the high-seas. Getting in front of the sliding door to the backyard, she looked outside as she leaned against the glass, sticking her face against it, the climate seemed perfect to take a walk again, with fluffy white clouds riding the sky making it seem that a storm was far away from there, and probably it'd remain like that for a few more days, the ambient of the town was something she also liked a lot, it felt so quiet, yet sad, yet still quiet and peaceful which was suitable for someone who was wanting some peace...

It was better to tell him about– "No, no!" She mumbled to herself, shaking her head, "He would stop talking to me and get angry... he will hate me... he will think I'm a monster..." He's probably the kindest person she met in a long time, and as much she knew how interested he was in her past, she had certain attachment to him now, "Oh Gee... why did I ask him that...?" She whimpered slightly in reference to her petition of two days ago, "It's for the best I suppose..." Or that's what she wanted to think?

She still could take a boat one night and– no, no... she couldn't do that either, although if she apologized them with a note explaining her situation, that'd be way too rude as they treated her so nicely. Sighing deeply she got back to the inside, giving a small glance towards the laboratory, when she was getting away from there she heard the voice of the scientist screaming in pain, which quickly made her run upstairs worriedly. "Flint!" She called out, running through the pink tunnel and reaching the inside of the lab.

There he saw him sitting on his rooking chair holding his arm with a rag, not using his lab coat, she noticed the piece of cloth stained with a crimson liquid that was easily identified as blood, she let out a panicked squeal as she got closer to him, getting stopped by him, "Hey, morning Alice..." He said with a smile, not looking actually concerned at all yet seeming like it did hurt, "How are you?"

"W-what happened?" She asked rushed, "You're bleeding!" He felt so guilty for worrying her like that.

"It's alright Alice, it was just a cut though." Nothing he couldn't handle; the girl seemed genuinely and really worried, which kept making him feel guilty, "Can you help me to cover it? I may need some help..." The girl nodded and quickly went for the first-aid kit in the bathroom of the lab, to then come back with bandages and gauze, this time he wasn't surprised anymore that she actually knew how to treat his wound, he didn't give her any indications about how to treat it, at least the wound wasn't deep, but as it got a muscle the bleeding was more than usual, there a couple of minutes later it was completely covered and secured...

"Are you okay...?" She asked sounding slightly anxious, as if he just completely scared the hell out of her, receiving a nod as an answer, she proceeded to hug him tight as a scared child. Alice felt his hand caressing the back of her head softly, making her calm down as her hug tightened like she didn't want to let go.

"I am, Alice, don't worry that much..." He said with a smile, "It was just an accident though..." She looked at him straight to his eyes wanting an explanation, "It's nothing, just got distracted a bit, that's all." He held a piece of glass stained with blood and tossed it to a side, to then make it fall in a trash can. Nailed it.

"Are you sure...?" Still he felt guilty for worrying her like that a lot, seeing that she actually cared a lot for him to not be concerned, she didn't let him go yet, just hugging tight as he kept caressing the back of her head. His hand drifted to the middle of her back, rubbing it softly, then it went down until he felt part of her skin exposed. A sudden feeling of her slipping down made him quickly press the arm near the base of her back and pull her up, which made her cuddle in a ball upon his lap like seeking for comfort and protection as he managed to find a comfortable position upon his chair...

It was curious how she still could get his soft spot that easily, probably because she couldn't stop looking so shy and fearful about pretty much everything... and as much he could actually see, there's been a large progress between them, with her being a bit more open to him in terms of affection, from being completely shy and talk just when she had to, to show her affection a bit more than before...

Probably it was a constant struggle on open up to him and remain retreated in herself, wanting hard to befriend him properly at the same time she wanted to keep her stuff for herself and not share a possible heavy load with anyone... in any case, he liked to make her feel safe...

And there they remained for at least ten minutes before they had to move again, with him caressing her back which apparently was something that was making her feel comfortable with the contact they were having, at the point that she looked like a toddler seeking for some affection from someone, it was adorable, he would take a picture of her like that if he could... there she moved, sitting on his lap seeming red for what she just did, which took out a giggle from him for it. Indeed he found it oddly adorable, "I already told you, I'm alright." She smiled a bit.

"I'm glad you are..." She said jumping down his lap, "I just got scared when I heard you screaming..." He gave her a patient smile in response, "So I came up here and..."

"I understand..." He said, caressing her hair again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..."

"It's alright... don't worry..." He chuckled a bit, then asked if she wanted to do something, "Actually... I wanna take a walk again..." She said, "But I wanna go alone..." He first seemed surprised, "I'll be alright, don't worry. I can take care of myself too..." In her mind was just the fact that she didn't want him to expose himself against those bullies again, she preferred him to stay in the lab and do whatever he got to do instead of seeing them about to punch him. "It'll be alright, I promise..."

There was concern reflected on the inventor's bright blue eyes, seeming reluctant to let her go alone, although, there wasn't really anything to fear about out there now the mayor was still in the States. As much as he knew, he'd be away for another week at least so they had nothing to fear at all in the meantime, and he didn't think that Brent and his peers would be that stupid to harm a young girl even if she whacked them with a fishing rod. He didn't give her an instant reply about it, thinking about other things... maybe she could find kids of her age to play with... there was a sigh, then an "Alright" as a response, she gave him a smile and a tight hug in return.

One condition: if there were any problems with someone (mostly referring to the bullies), she had to run away back home or hide, or both if it was possible. She nodded in agreement when she realized the concern of the inventor growing, knowing that what happened the day before had something to do there; she then, gave him a tight hug to calm him down and let him know that everything would be alright, taking out a wider smile from him...

.

** _A while later..._ **

Somewhere else in the town in a front yard, we can see Cal Devereaux (also known as Earl's little angel as he uses to refer him) with a good friend of him, a girl of around his age with light brown hair, hazel eyes, slightly chubby wearing a blue shirt, shorts and slippers. It seemed like they were going to do something... mischievous... why to say that? A golf stick, with their respective balls.

"Are you sure about this, Calvin?" The girl asked confused, "I mean, we might get into trouble you know..."

"Calm down, Cassie," He said placing a ball on the grass, "It'll be okay." If there's not a broken glass in the process of course.

The girl now identified as Cassie seemed unsure about it, not a bit but a complete lot. It didn't matter that his father was the cop of the town, right now anything could just mean troubles, and no, they weren't playing just mini-golf or something – at least with her knowing her friend, it wasn't just a regular mini-golf play, not coming from Cal at least... the kid got ready to hit the ball, preparing a soft swing towards a plastic cup. He got ready once... two... "Ball!" He shouted as he did a powerful swing that sent the ball flying away.

It first hit the fence, a wall, a garden gnome, the mailbox, almost getting them twice, traveling then in the gutter of the house and falling into the tube to then fly away... "Ouch!" they heard near there, making them flinch a bit as the boy got a glance from his friend, shrugging nervously and going to check on what did the ball hit... to then stumble upon a new face in the town after so long... Alice was holding the ball as she rubbed her head with her fingertips... probably Earl's 'little angel' just started to feel a tiny little crush on her as she looked quite pretty...

"Hello!" Cassie said to Alice, "You must be new at the island. I'm Cassie, and you?"

She looked at them a bit confused, then shyly, smiling a bit as she rubbed the back of her head, "I'm Alice... nice to meet you too, Cassie..." She passed her hand to the hazel-eyed girl, who was too around her age and took it with a smile.

"I'm Cal Devereaux, nice to meet you too Alice." He said confidently and playing it cool, passing out his hand to her too, she shyly took it too with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you too... I met your father yesterday..." She said, he looked surprised that she did already and even seemed to be looking for a positive commentary... she found Earl quite... uh... well she didn't like him that much because of what he said about Flint of being a huge weirdo and how she should stay away from him, but she couldn't say a thing out loud either. Contrary about meeting some of the adults of the town, she felt slightly more confident with them.

"Now I think about it..." The boy said, "Aren't you the girl staying with the Lockwood family?" He asked curious, she blushed a bit and stepped back a bit in surprise, "Then you are! My dad told me that you were found in the ocean and they took you to their home. He even went to visit you later that day," No one actually told that, "But Flint stopped him from bothering you," She smiled a bit with it, "Isn't he a weirdo?"

Her smile vanished to an angry glare, "He's not a weirdo!" She exclaimed angrily, clenching her fists tight, "He's actually one of the nicest persons I've met in my life..." Added in a low voice caressing her arm a bit, yet she meant every single word she said because it was true. He was a really nice person and she cared much more than she thought about him.

In that moment she thought that probably her relation with Flint would bring her some sort of problems with the others as he was the outcast of the town, which in her honest opinion enraged her pretty much a lot, but just didn't show it in order to keep herself calmed down, but have all of the hostility of the people looking at them and mostly at him in a strange way, like expecting already one of his inventions that could still destroy the island by accident was something that didn't pass up her head in any single moment the day before.

And again she felt dumb for having asked him to not get attached to her while she already did the same for him. Of course she should've expected a few days to pass before deciding to ask him that, but she didn't want to tell him to forget that either because there were so many things she was unable to explain him... in any case... she sighed deeply and bit her cheeks when she realized their curious stare on her, like wanting an explanation in her words or something. "I told this kid over here that Flint Lockwood was just eccentric," Cassie said with a smile, "I did have a couple of interactions with him, and he seems to be a nice person." A smile curved again on Alice's face when she finally heard somebody not talking trash about him, "I'd like to ask him for some help with science but I'm unsure about asking..."

"I'm sure he'd like to give you some help..." Alice said still smiling a bit, with her shyness slowly drifting away, "I don't think he'd mind to take a pause and explain something related to what he likes to someone..." In her thoughts were also the idea of him being a science teacher and anything related if he wasn't inventing all the time, which seemed accurate his whole self, "He even taught me some glassmaking a couple of days ago..." Which she also used to give him a crystal heart... thinking about it she didn't know why she did it, but probably it was to repair his kindness.

The hazel-eyed girl grinned when she heard that and looked to her friend once again, who just rolled eyes like saying 'whatever' even if he seemed slightly interested now, with her looking curious to know more and making the Latin-American girl step back a bit showing again her shyness, she just smiled and told her a couple of things from the last day, not talking about Brent and his peers about to beat the hell out of him or do any harm, preferring to avoid think in that affair again or else she'd just like to whack them again with an iron stick at least. Then she passed them their golf ball, Cal apologized her for hitting her head with it, "Hey, don't you want to play golf with us?" He asked.

"In fact is mini golf..." Cassie said, "Someone just likes to hit the ball way too hard!" She received a nervous grin mixed with an 'angel face' from her friend, making her roll eyes and making their new friend giggle a bit, "Anyway, are you coming?"

There was silence for a moment, as if she was thinking her answer wisely, then smiled a bit to them and nodded. On the bright side they haven't asked her how she ended up somewhere in the ocean out of sudden, something she didn't want to explain to anyone... then Cal stopped, he seemed to be thinking on something or that's what they thought, they looked at him for a while... then...

_ **Achoo!** _

Well... highly unimpressive... quite expected probably. In any case the girls of the new small group gave a giggle to it, receiving a smile from part of the boy and go back to Cassie's front yard. They asked Alice if she ever played mini-golf, receiving a negative answer but saying that she saw people playing it so... it couldn't be hard, right? Well she didn't have to swing that hard (or else she'd end up hitting somebody else on the head), just enough to make the ball move towards the cup.

First of all she gave a glance to the stick, looking every single thing of it... "This isn't even for a mini-golf game, you know?" She said, "This one is for a long shot, if you're not careful enough you may break something fragile after hitting the ball, and..." She then got ready to hit from her right, the stick was one for an adult so, it wouldn't be a surprise if any of them ended up blaming it for a mistake, she got ready to make a swing, but didn't hit the ball at all. "Who's left-handed here?"

"I told to Calvin all of what you said, and my dad is left-handed." Cassie said, one second, two seconds, "Wait, you said you never played golf..."

"I haven't..." She said, "I just have a good eye for some things though..." They looked at her for a moment, then smiled.

"No wonder why you two are friends now." The hazel-eyed girl said with a giggle that made Alice blush a bit more and clear her throat, taking out another giggle from the couple of friends, "We're just teasing you, don't worry."

Sometimes she felt out of tune whenever came up with human interaction, most part of the time she could interact, but sometimes she felt quite lost whenever it came to some things like a friendly teasing, it didn't make a lot of difference from a real tease in her opinion asides of the friendly-like tone... she got... unused to some things... clearing her throat she got to her left side getting ready to hit the ball, maybe she wasn't left-handed...

One...

Two...

Three...

_ ***crack!*** _

"That wasn't me..." Alice said, with the stick right about to hit the ball, looking to the other two to know what was that, "Guys...?" The sound came from somewhere near, a couple of houses away in fact, they went to see what happened and saw a broken window and a group of kids coming with baseball stuff. That made sense... and at the same time it also scared her a bit because of the sound. The group of three people met the other group of (around) seven kids, then looked to the broken glass... it was the classic creepy old house from those series with the creepy old neighbor, the only thing was that...

"Uh oh..." One of the kids from the larger group said concerned, "That's the McHale house..."

Curiously enough, even if there was a sunny ambient with the white fluffy clouds still riding the sky, when they all looked again to the house, the sky was black and a lightning crossed among the clouds in a very, very dramatic way causing to most part of them shiver down and take a step back... minus Alice, who was the one who was looking with curiosity in her eyes. There they realized she was the new girl hanging out with the oddball of the town, but this time she didn't actually mind their words, just concentrated in the old creepy house... it seemed that actually no one placed a foot there in years...

There was a disturbing aura coming from there as much as her senses were telling her, as if something horrible happened there years ago, why she could tell that? It was like a sixth sense she had... she looked then to the group of children around her and saw them mumbling stuff about the house, who could get into there without being a wuss and some others just saying that they already lost the ball there... she actually wanted to ask, but when she opened her mouth no words came out like feeling unsure to ask...

Paying more attention to her surroundings, her ears started to catch some fragments of their different conversations, hearing stuff like 'there's not such a thing as ghosts', slightly arguing about who had enough courage to get there and gather the ball which of course no one had... there she felt the gazes of pretty much everyone upon her, something she tried to pass up as if she didn't realize their intentions... for some reason she didn't actually feel surprised for what the decision of some kids was: the new girl in the town had to get there... gladly enough, she wasn't the only one who didn't notice that.

Cassie immediately defended her from the larger group saying that if they wanted to get their ball back one of them should get in instead of sending her, it was their fault they got their toy lost and it wasn't fair to involve the new girl into their stupidity as if she got something to do there. At the same time she understood that it could just be a tradition where the new kid uses to do the stuff that the others doesn't wants to and didn't really mind that, "I was going to do it anyways..." She said, receiving a curious glance from the two friends whose names started with C.

"What? No! You don't have to do it!" Cal said and looked to the other group, "They should do it themselves!" She smiled a bit to them, like saying that there wasn't a problem on accepting their petition to add a bigger surprise to all of them... funny how a girl had more courage than any of the group of kids, or maybe she was being foolish. Even if she ignored what could've happened in there or what could be wrong, surely her curiosity already got her deep enough to take a decision.

"It's alright, you can wait for me here if you want..." There wasn't any problem, "I've been through worse anyways..." She groaned a bit when she said that, squinting slightly and then smile at bit. It was alright anyways, she really didn't mind to get into a quick adventure into an abandoned old creepy house.

One of the kids gave her the baseball bat just in case, thing she grabbed and placed the body against her shoulder feeling ready to go, her two new friends looked to each other twice and shouted a "Wait!" to stop her, making her turn around curious towards them, there was a silence for a couple of seconds until Cassie, under the shocked expression of her friend said "We're going with you!"

"Hell no!" Devereaux shouted, "There's no way I'm going in with you two!"

* * *

"Why am I even here...?"

They waited around an hour to get their way into the abandoned/haunted/mysterious house/whatever it was and get themselves ready for whatever could happen there, with Alice armed with the baseball bat, Cassie with a golf stick (not a large one but a kids' one and also a cross under her shirt) and Calvin with a cricket bat (as his father was 100% fitness and incredibly right-handed for sports so he had pretty much a lot of stuff storage in the attic) and a backpack to carry some important objects like a few lanterns.

It wouldn't be hard to get in unnoticed, they spotted an entrance from an emergency exit located on the backyard that leads to the basement secured with chains and a big, old rusty lock. There were two options: find a hammer or something heavy enough to break it, or try to force it with a wire which seemed safer, it wouldn't leave notorious traces of someone breaking in so they'd go for the best. Again for their surprise (and what could probably be for the dismay of Flint), she managed to open the lock with a wire in a few seconds, then retired the chains slowly to not bring other people's attention, placing it down among the tall grass. "Hey, I'm being serious..." Alice said, "You don't have to come with me..."

Perfect excuse for the boy in the group to leave them, turning around about to leave, only to get turned back towards Alice by the hazel-eyed girl he had as friend, "Don't you always say that you would like to have an interesting adventure, Calvin?" She asked curious with a smile, not receiving any sort of response from her friend asides of rolling eyes.

"I do, but I didn't have this in mind..." He admitted, "I'm curious to know what's inside though, I just don't want my dad to get angry at me..." In any way, Earl getting actually angry at him would be like see a shooting star, a rare, very rare case, they didn't actually think he would get angry for more than two or three minutes, "Do you think the lines are still there? Or the stains?" The question made her shiver down a bit of too much, causing her to get goose bumps, "Are you scared?"

And their new friend just stared at them as they had a slight argument about what could probably be found inside, awaiting for them to stop and take a decision before she decided to get in by herself and leave them outside to wait or something, for her there was actually not a lot of difference anyways... it felt like the same, with the difference being just someone to talk with. Slowly she just opened the heavy wooden trap door making a soft creaking noise that reached out the attention of the other two friends making them snap and focus on their "mission" (which was a complete stupidity, but at the same time there wasn't any more options due the conditions of the town and stuff) of recovering the stupid toy.

Looking into the stairs, it was covered with dust as the sides were full of white spiderwebs, evidencing the lack of human activity in the house, taking out the lanterns they got ready to get in, with Alice at the front, Cassie in the middle and Cal at the end trying to avoid as much as possible the webs all over the way down. Once they all got in, they closed the door to the basement to not drag too much attention, turning on their lanterns as the way down felt creepier without lights, without sounds, possibly with rats living among the abandoned stuff there... they kept themselves as close as possible from their new friend.

The place indeed seemed to not had been used for nearly a decade or even more, needing a good hand of cleaning (and the assistance of a vacuum cleaner of course). The basement was full of old, rusty and dusty stuff that probably also belonged to an previous family (someone never knows); there were a few metallic (and also rusty like pretty much every thing down there) shelves with moldy boxes. Some seemed to have a better shape, others well, others didn't have the same luck.

The humidity in the air was heavy, showing up that the place didn't get open for a similar amount of time of the closed house or even longer. Their lights were darting to every corner of the place, hoping to not have bats down there because they were quite scary, and their backs against each other in a triangle-like formation so they wouldn't get too surprised if anything comes out of nowhere to scare the heck out of them and make them leave. Interesting place? Yes? Scary? Hell yes, at least they were alone between the three so, what could possibly go wrong down there?

_ ***squeak!*** _

The hazel-eyed girl and her friend directed their lanterns towards the source of the squeaky noise that belonged to a rat that managed to hide around as fast as the rodent made its noise, seeming so nervous for whatever could be roaming around... pff, as if a monster would be hiding down there... in any case...

"This place is so quiet and scary..." Admitted Cal, keeping his back as close as possible from the other two girls.

"Don't even remind us that, please..." His good old friend said, holding on her golf stick tight in one hand, "The only thing we should get across with is with a ghost..."

The sound of steps there upstairs made the couple yelp and hug a not-even-close-to-look-scared Alice, who just stopped and looked at them with a curious glare, "How can't you be afraid down here?!" The two friends asked to her surprised for the glance they were having, she just shrugged in response with a serene face that just got them intrigued, "Why...?" They asked again at the same time.

"I don't feel like it..." She said plainly, with an unsettling calm coming from someone who sounded quite mature-ish (?) than them as if she already dealt with that kind of situations in the past, as if she already was in an abandoned building before and alone, "There's nothing wrong with feel fear either, I just think that it's quite pointless to feel it in an empty place like this..." Well, they were more unsettled because of the heavy ambient around the abandoned house, still the sentence of their new friend was quite deep, "Although, it feels so heavy here... or is it just me...?"

They agreed with her.

The sound of footsteps upstairs made the three of them stop and freeze in their place, as much as the two young citizens of the town knew, no one lives in that house and they didn't really know why in their honest opinions... now it felt terrifying for real, but at the same time Alice remained serene to the noises even if they got her by surprise too; just looking up to the ceiling with curiosity. "Holy Christ this place is haunted!" Cassie said.

"Do you really think that ghosts are real?" Cal asked to her, "It could've been a rat too."

"A rat isn't big enough to make the sound of human footsteps," Alice said quietly, "There's probably somebody else in here..." However, she didn't feel like that was the case, the only reason to say it was to calm them down at least a bit, or as much as possible... pretty much enough to not get her nerves or something at least.

Silently they kept their way back upstairs, going up the stone-like stairs (good thing to not hear the creaky and unsettling noise of those old wooden stairs that could get broken in any moment because of the mold and humidity) until reached a slightly open door that took them to a hallway from where the daylight was filtering. Once there they became more careful to not drag anybody's attention of whoever could be roaming the old house; the newest of the group took a peek outside and check that there were no moors on the coast... everything seemed less creepier than before, yet, still unsettling.

The door made a creaky noise when she pushed it, needing a good hand of oil in its hinges, to then pass to the hallway... the walls were painted in a faded marmalade color that now were covered either with mold, or had humidity around, or were down on the floor, which was also covered with dust and completely neglected. In her honest opinion, the house was quite similar to Flint's but adding the basement entrance to it (although, it wouldn't be a bad idea ask if they had one though... or maybe they didn't, otherwise the inventor would be using it as his laboratory as much her logic could tell).

On the bright side there was a bit more of light in there than downstairs, the windows were closed yet some broken at points, letting the air flow around the house taking away a lot of the heavy sensation of claustrophobia down in the basement. As much Alice could tell, the kids from before weren't the only ones who lost their toys there, and possibly they were the only ones with enough courage (or probably stupidity) to retrieve their stuff... then on the other hand, the ambient still felt unsettling, as if there was something wrong, but she felt unable to tell what could it actually be...

"Well, the ball is supposed to be in the living room," The boy of the group said, "So we should be heading there now."

But, curiosity was there too, and at least the new girl was the one who wanted to explore a bit even if she knew that wandering was a terrible sin (1), even more in an abandoned house. She couldn't help it that much to be honest, it was better to cope with them instead of leaving them alone; at the same time there was a chance that they would just follow her around as she was the only among them who didn't seem scared at all... without saying a word they walked to where the living room was, feeling the ambient becoming heavier again.

Weird, was the one word that crossed Alice's mind for a moment, there, it felt like the temperature dropped a few Fahrenheit even if there was an air flow around, letting the warm air of the outside get in...

"This place is still unsettling..." The hazel-eyed girl said, "I mean... it feels like we're not alone at all..."

"Are you thinking that ghosts are real again?" Her friend asked, "That's not possible..."

The sound of steps around made them freeze and hug Alice once again, raising up their guard and looking to every single corner where they were coming from...

It became silent again...

Both Cassie and Cal remained close to Alice, looking to every single part of the house scared as she started to move again, this time she looked a bit tense, but not as much as they were in that moment, being able to handle her nerves from whatever the hell was happening. It could actually be a good scene for Paranormal Activity but with three kids roaming in an abandoned house because of a lost toy that wasn't even theirs. They wanted to take a peek in the rooms so they would see if they would be able to say who used to live there and if they knew them or not... and somehow they managed to hold on their curiosity to focus.

Then in the living room things felt more unsettling for some reason... as if there was something... completely wrong...

This time they split as they were already there, searching for the ball, the hazel-eyed girl went to the window where the baseball ball got through, and it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it rolled under the couches... but there wasn't a trail, right? "Uh, guys...?" They heard Cal say looking to certain spot in a corner next to the chimney, looking pale... "I-I th-think you should s-see this..." His friends attended there...

On the floor there was white tape showing that it was a crime scene, the floor and the wall up to it was stained in a faded red showing that it was blood, and that wasn't the only spot as next to it there was another spot marked... "Murder..." Alice mumbled, "Of course..." Thinking on what Flint told her about the death of his mother, of course not everything was quiet around the island... probably there were more secrets around, some that shouldn't actually see the light.

"Does this means we're in a haunted house?!" The other girl exclaimed afraid as hell, with the boy of the group hushing her, "Don't hush at me Calvin!" She said nervously, "We're in a haunted house!"

"There's nothing that can actually assure us that this place is haunted," Alice said, "The permanence of a spirit depends on how bad and long their agony was. Not everyone remains, stays because of some unfinished business, others because they don't wanna go to the Afterlife..."

"How do you know about this?" They both asked.

"I'm just a curious eye at some topics..." She gave a smile to them to calm them down at least a little bit, "Well, let's find the ball and get outta here before we get into more t–" Her new friends raised up an eyebrow as she suddenly became completely tense, with the hairs of her body (including her hair) raised up like a threatened animal against its predator, passing her hands on her arms to calm down, to then turn around to the entrance of the hallway nervous.

"Alice...?" They asked, "Are you–?"

The two of them froze when they heard steps around the living room, it wasn't just of one person but of two...

Surely, the victims of the murder didn't leave, and they were around now. In fact their step stopped in the same place, as if the two spirits were now together again; Alice had her eyes wide open and her view towards the spot in front of the chimney, realizing in that moment how close they actually were... none of them could move, feeling the temperature dropped again and their bodies frozen, but none of them knew if it was because of the cold or because the fear they were feeling. How creepier could it become?

"W-we're sorry!" Their new friend exclaimed and bowed down, "We didn't mean to get here like this... we're just looking for our baseball ball..." There she got straight again, seeming nervous, panting slightly like trying to keep herself together, "Yes, I can hear you... but I can't see you..." Okay, they weren't sure if she was already trying to play an obnoxious prank on them or if it was true because they couldn't hear anyone talking. She was still with most part of all the hairs of her body up, but apparently less tense, like listening closely to whatever was speaking; then she looked to Cal, "He's Earl's son... you know him?" She asked, then said "Oh..."

"What?" He asked.

"She said she was a good friend of your mother, even if they didn't know for that long..." There she seemed to listen again, "And that she'd like to see her again someday..." Again she seemed to listen to them, "Fran Lockwood? I-I don't know her personally but... she... passed a years ago..." There was silence for a moment, "Her son is a friend of mine... he saved my life a few days ago... he's really nice..." Her new friends were silently freaking the hell out, unable to understand properly what the heck was actually happening and if it was really just a prank or if she was being serious, "Oh... I understand... it must be sad for you to be here all by your own..." There was a sad smile on her face for it, lowering her head a bit as a sign of empathy, her two friends were very curious though about what were they talking even if it could be a prank. "Uh... I'll see what I can do... you're the nicest ghosts I've met until now... I wouldn't have any problems to come back honestly..." Okay that actually sounded like a complete joke. No one in their minds would ever come back to a haunted place!

The thing that completely got them out of their minds again was to hear the steps again and see the baseball bat floating towards them. That was already insane at the point they could blame the heavy ambient inside for causing them hallucinations; the ball floated towards their friend's extended hand and landed upon it, as if someone was giving it directly to her – which was the actual case even if crazy as hell the situation was. There they noticed that her hair was becoming messy, as if someone was ruffling her head; their friend then said goodbye to them and said that they were going to get out through the basement again as she didn't want them to get into some sort of troubles with Earl, they heard footsteps again, going to different sides of the house to not be heard again after...

Everything still felt way too surreal to be true...

* * *

_ **Later that day...** _

The hours passed and Flint was way too concerned about Alice, despite the fact he was sure she would be able to handle herself alone he couldn't stop caring about her safety, and he haven't got any news about her in the whole day either... was she in troubles and no one was whiling to tell him the truth? Surely enough if something already happened he would've gotten a call hours ago, he knew Earl, he would notify anything to them in the right moment if it was something important related to them so...

There he heard his elevator going up, he ran to the pink tunnel to receive her, and once she got out there, he couldn't help but give her a tight hug. "Oh my God Alice!" He exclaimed, "I thought something happened to you..."

"I'm good Flint... I've made some friends..." She said returning the hug to her, smiling a bit to him and walk into the lab. The smell of coffee was filling the air, which meant he was making some, "How's been your day?"

"It's been fine, I've been still busy with the broken stuff..." It was still a long and tedious process, so he couldn't help it but have a ton of patience to get everything settled back, "What were you doing?" He asked, taking a cup from his desktop full of hot black coffee, "Want some?"

She shook her head in response, "No, I don't actually like coffee..."

"Oh... alright then..." He sat on his rooking chair ready to get some stuff done at his computer, to then look at her again curious, "Who did you meet today?" He asked her with a wide smile, she then told him what they did around but not mentioning the affair of the haunted house; her friend seemed like a proud older brother to his younger sibling, listening to her story. "Well at least you befriended them, and being my friend wasn't an impediment..." She could feel the bittersweetness in his voice, aware of why he said that...

It really hurt her inside... "Hey... it's alright Flint..." She said, "You're a nice person... and I really like you for it..." He looked at her like trying to believe it, she gave him a patient smile, looking straight to his eyes to prove she was saying the truth. He scratched his nose and sniffed a bit, to then look away from her apparently happy or something like that, to then feel her giving him a tight hug that he returned affectionately.

> _ **"Don't get too... attached to me... because I'll only make you suffer..."** _

It was too late, and the memory of the request made him hug her tighter, pulling her close to him not wanting to let go... how come she got his heart that easily honestly? It felt quite surreal, but maybe because she was quite different from the others? Hard to tell, maybe was her shyness, her loyalty as she haven't ran away after having being told about the things he does and because she defended him from the bullies... it was just hard to tell... it was just that small part of his heart that felt like needing something to love maybe... whatever it was, it was hard to tell.

She didn't complain nor anything for his sudden move, but get a more comfortable position and cuddle against his chest, allowing him to place his chin upon her head and hug more, feeling once again like an older brother protecting his younger sibling; it just felt so nice actually, he couldn't think on anything else asides the fact of feeling loved after so long... and the warmth in his heart was unexplained, only knowing that probably that was the same feeling his mother used to have for him when she was alive, a feeling he was having for her now, a small yet mysterious girl who was being way too sweet in his opinion.

Ah... so many feelings...

"Heh... you asked me to not get attached to you... but you seem to have become attached to me..." He said with a small smile, still leaning his chin upon her head, "Why...? Why did you ask me that...?"

There was silence for a moment, as if she was thinking for an answer...

"You know...? Forget what I said..." She said, hiding her face against his chest, "I wasn't thinking properly there..." She was afraid of him, that was for sure, "I... I promise I'll talk to you... but not today... just give me time..." There was a brief pause, "It's not like I don't trust you yet... just give me my time... I don't feel ready to tell you some things... I'll tell you anything you want soon..." He felt her hiding more on his chest as if shame was taking over, or probably was still fear for whatever she had to tell, "Just not today..."

"I understand..." He said. There was something else he's been thinking to tell her but he's been reluctant to it... it was something he never told anyone for such a long time, something he'd like to share with someone because no one else knew what happened... "I understand..."

Sighing deeply she moved again, kissing her forehead a bit again making her blush, yet taking out a smile from her. "Flint... can I ask you something?" She received a nod from him, "Well, uh... I've seen this... abandoned house when I was playing today..." She wasn't going to say that she got into there and met the former owners of the house, "And I wanted to know if you know who used to live there..."

There was a silence for a moment, as if he seemed unsure to tell her; a glance straight to his eyes to make him say the truth was enough to take out a sigh from him, close his eyes for a moment and get his mind straight... then bit his cheeks a bit with a serious stare, as if the topic was quite delicate for a young mind like her. Hesitation for another moment, until he finally spoke:

"Well it happened uh... around eight years ago, some time before the fire at the factory that killed my mom... they were killed one night and nobody realized that until a few days ago..." His voice seemed to tremble slightly with the story, tapping his fingers upon his thighs like trying to find a way to continue and explain better, "I-I mean it's because gunshots kinda sounds like when a plastic container explodes inside a microwave... I heard the gunshots from the kitchen... I-I even told mom about that... I heard them... and well she was... convinced that it was just plastic..."

But he wasn't convinced at all about that. Things were just completely bizarre back in second grade when he was already nine, with Brent having arrived near him at lunch sitting next to him; of course the young inventor back then was expecting a tease or something, even the kids around turned towards them to see what was going to happen at the point time seemed to have frozen because a heavy silence fell in the cafeteria...

Nothing happened.

He just took his lunchbox and placed it on the table and opened it, there was a lone sardine sandwich there, which was usually accompanied by a red bright apple, there he looked at him and into his lunchbox to the same sandwich, to then just say, "Be careful out there, Flint..." with trembling lips and voice and leave the place with a tear rolling down his face. Then at the end of the day he just saw him dragging his backpack and leaving the school alone, which was weird because his parents always used to pick him up...

There she understood...

"They were..."

"James and Lucy McHale... they were Brent's parents once upon a time..." He said with a now dry voice, "A few days later my mom went to see them. They've known each other since childhood and were all close friends, she was quite worried as she haven't heard anything for a long while, so she went to see them and have some tea...” He took a brief pause, she noticed how nervous he was, “She said when she arrived everything was dead silent, everything felt so cold and the front door was open... getting in expecting to find them, she found her lifetime friends on the floor, and the furniture was covered in blood..." Stains that remained right where were left, "And besides them there was even a note saying when it happened. It was the same night of the loud noises..."

Woah... no wonder why neither Cassie nor Cal nor any of the others knew about it, asides of think it as just an old, creepy abandoned house.

Indeed there was something that come up to her mind with it: it wasn't just probably the problems happening nowdays at the small town there, but something muddy was going on under everything.

"There's something else under the crime..." She mumbled quietly, "If they left a note, it was for a reason..."

"I have a theory but I don't have solid proofs... I mean, I don’t have proof, neither doubts. I think the mayor sent an assassin back then and killed them... I wouldn't be surprised if he personally did it. The McHales were kind people even if they had a lot of money because they had part of the royalties of the cannery, they always used to make a lot of contributions to the town and keep places like the local school full of the necessary elements to keep on with a good grade of education here..." There was a pause, "Shelbourne's always been greedy and amazingly obscure when it comes to get something he wants, he won't repair on the damage done to anyone even if that means to get ridden of them. He won't hesitate to kill anyone if they disobey..."

The fact that he took a deep breath as he seemed to flinch by raising up his back and driving his hand to his mouth meant that he actually knew that first-handed, with his eyes filling with tears and his face growing red like a tomato, Alice quickly gave him a hug trying to comfort him as much as she could, being hugged back again by the young inventor, who tried to keep her as close from to his body as possible in order to calm down... "It's alright Flint..." She said, "He will get what he deserves in the end..." At least she believed in a Divine Justice, also known as Karma, someday all the damage done would go back like a boomerang, not in the exact same way of course, but in a way he would regret for everything he did in his life probably.

Just like early that day they remained cuddled for a good while until they decided to break away, he cleaned his face with the sleeve of his coat, to then go to wash it at the bathroom, coming back a couple of minutes later seeming to be better; receiving a smile from her and a question about his arm. "Oh, it's alright," He said, "It kinda itches but it's alright." There he received another hug from her, "Have you got something to eat yet? I can make you something to eat if there's anything at the fridge."

"It's alright Flint... I can do it myself..." She said with a smile, "I'll be right back."

Then she headed to the elevator and got down. The inventor for a moment remained silent, to then decide to spy on her by using the camera of the porta-potty; he saw her walking to the house, but stopped when he saw Cal popping up the fence calling out her name, she smiled at him and used some of the metallic junk to get at his height. "Hey Al!" He said in a friendly manner, making the inventor smile, "Can I make you one question? Did you...? You know... hear... uh... voices in there...?" The question made him raise an eyebrow, "It just... felt so... weird..."

"I did..." She replied, biting her cheeks a bit, "It were a couple, a man and a woman... she had a slightly obnoxious voice though, like you know, those people who talks with their nose, but she didn't sound hostile at all... the other was a man... I asked Flint if he knew who lived there, he said it was Brent's family... they sounded... very lonely..." She seemed nervous from releasing the information, the inventor was far more surprised now, realizing she omitted some information.

"I saw you getting all nervous out of sudden in there, when we heard the footsteps closer..."

"It's because I heard the woman say...: _**Look love, we have some company, **_when they came in..." Her friends listened closely, "Of course when they moved you could hear that too, they realized we could and got closer to us, that's when I apologized for breaking in without invitation..."

"_**Wait... can you hear us...?”**_ The man asked, “I replied that I could... but that I couldn't see them..." She kept explaining, "_**Who's the boy with you? Isn't he Regina's child?”**_ Once again the man asked, with the girl having given a positive response from her at the house.

"_**Oh my God... it's been a long time since we had contact with her... it's a shame we weren't that close when all of this happened...**_" That was the woman, Lucy, speaking.

"They knew me..." He said, "They also knew my mom..." Alice nodded, Flint was intrigued.

"_**Do you know Fran Lockwood?**_" She reminded the woman asked again to her, with the inventor again surprised for what she could hear in case it was true, there is where Alice gave them the news about her departure years ago, some time after their deaths, to then add she knew her son, “_**But you know her son, right? His name is Flint...**_" In that moment the young inventor felt brand more curious, hearing also that she gave them a possitive answer and how he saved her life, "_**We know, he's always been a sweet child... quite eccentric, imaginative, yet always kind...**_" There then was a slight silence...

"_**It's been so long since we heard something about what's happening in the outside world...**_" The man said with a sad tone, "_**It's so lonely to be here alone by our own... it's been also a long time ago since somebody has come here...**_" It was hard to not feel empathy for them in their honest opinion, even if they were ghosts, they didn't lose their humanity at all. "_**I'm sorry for asking you this but... can you ever come back...? I know you probably wouldn't want to, but you're the only one who's been able to hear us since we died... and it'd be nice to have someone to talk with and... keep us updated with the outside world...**_"

"That's why you told them that you'd see what you can do..." Cal said starting to understand, "Are you sure you'd like to go back there?" He just received a smile in response, "Wow, you're crazy..." A chuckle was another response he got, "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow I guess. You're pretty cool honestly."

The kids said goodbye to each other and got down the fence, with Flint seeing Alice walking into the house again... for a good while his curiosity went off, but now it came back stronger than before... in the first place, there wasn't a possible way in his opinion as a man of science for phantoms to be real, but he didn't actually know anymore... it wasn't a secret that she was aware of the muddy stuff going on in the town in an underground level...

Turning off the screen he took a sip of his coffee, squinting sadly and worried... with the many things going on there was something that crossed his mind for a brief moment, he shook his head to wear those thoughts away...

"Everything's going to be alright..." He mumbled with concern filling his voice and squinting his eyes still with a deep kind of concern, "It won't happen again Lockwood..."

It shouldn't ever happen again...

Because he wouldn't be able to handle it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): Sorry for the Bendy and the Ink Machine reference but I just felt like I had to do it.


	5. Breaking Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is basically the longest chapter I've ever wrote in my entire life, around 15k+ words in total. I'm not often used to write that much, but I actually felt not just proud but with the need of putting all the details and effort I could.  
.  
Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?_  
_And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're ok?_  
_I'm falling to pieces, yeah_  
_I'm falling to pieces_

_Breakeven - The Script_

* * *

It was day three (or five, since he found her of course), contrary to the previous days there seemed to be a forecast of rain with some grey clouds passing around the sky, it was still unknown if it was an actual storm coming as the clouds were just coming. Probably it could be for the next few days, maybe earlier, even later that day... it was still necessary some farther researches from his part to make sure he wasn't reading the patterns of the climate in a wrong way. Accidents could happen anyways, even more if he wasn't focused enough (something he should've learned when inventing so many times in the past as well).

Despite of being all busy with his own matters, he still wanted to go down and check on Alice and see if she was already awake; it wasn't that early, it was around 10 AM already, he didn't think she would be awake but at least to see if she was alright. The only reason he was actually awake was because he couldn't get so much sleep last night, there were too many things going on in his head once again and it was hard for him to concentrate properly, even less to fall back asleep after the first nightmare he had...

In any case, it wasn't the first time he remained awake an entire night, there were days where he didn't get a single minute of sleep by being too busy with his ideas and how to develop them; once upon a time it reached that point where he couldn't keep himself awake to go to school once he fell asleep back in sixth grade, having became a problem for a good while and even having to get an adviser to regulate his sleeping schedule back; it was hard, yes, it took a while to get all of that fixed, right; yet of course that didn't mean he stopped doing so, only sometimes whenever he felt like he couldn't get his head away from overthinking even if he wanted so...

And mostly, it happened whenever he felt stuck for some unknown/unconscious reason.

Sighing deeply, trying to switch back to his common happy-go-luck behavior, lock all the things that uses to bother him into the back of his mind once again and go all the way back on trying to focus in his own ideas, he made himself a morning coffee as his usual breakfast (pretty much, like a certain modern version of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes portrayed by a Benedict with a Cumberbatch as surname giving endless puns to his name, no wonder why he was that skinny). Steve was sleeping in his box, having been eerily calm for the last 24 hours – not like he wanted him to destroy half of his lab once again, it was just... yes, weird, but better than having him breaking important stuff around even if he was his beloved partner in science.

He sat down on his old, orange and trustful rooking chair, blowing to his coffee a bit to cool it down as if tea it was, then took a sip of it...

> _ **He won't hesitate to kill anyone if they disobey...** _

The sound of porcelain breaking against the floor woke the monkey up, scaring him because of the sudden loud noise. The cup of coffee was now shattered on the floor with the dark brown/black-ish liquid completely spilled on the floor as the inventor had his eyes wide open and his hands open in distress, shaking slightly as the tears started to drip out uncontrollably... some of what probably could be considered as his biggest fears were coming back in probably a harder form taking him with his guard as lower as possible, making him... anxious...

"No, no... no it won't happen again Lockwood..." He said to himself, placing his hands upon his mouth once again as his heart raced against his chest faster, "She will be okay... we will be alright... he won't do anything to us... we will be fine... it'll be alright..." He took a very deep breath, whimpering in the process as he tried hard to calm down, "It'll be alright..."

When was the actual last time he ever felt like that? It's been like a couple of years ago after she passed, right? Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome, also, a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks. Normally his anxiety used to come out from his energetic behavior that needed to release its energy through his inventions by building machines or downloading his ideas at blueprints, computer and real life...

And this time it was the second definition of the word.

His only relief right now was to know that danger was away from the island for a few more days, bur time was becoming thinner and he would eventually come back; was he the only one who forgot about everything he's done during the last years? Sometimes he wondered that a lot, if they all forgot that the Devil was the mayor of the town... or probably he was the only one who actually remembered that... he wasn't sure about it to be honest, in part he was sure that the situation of the town was somehow his fault, not just for the defunction of the local economy but for being incompetent to find another sources of money, pretty much keeping it for himself.

There wasn't anything to do against it now, right? Just bite his tongue and keep his thoughts for himself or pay (probably, very) hard the consequences of his acts.

Think about what she told him the day before gave him a slight sign of hope: everyone gets what they deserve at the end, so... everything could go to better too, right? Perhaps not today, neither tomorrow nor the next month, but someday in the following years...

Cleaning up his face with the sleeve of his coat, under the close gaze of his lab partner who still was in his box, he stood up to clean the mess and get himself another cup of coffee. Once done that and after also having washed his face to calm down, he just noticed Steve still looking at him, it wasn't the usual curious/playful stare, he seemed worried... "Stressed." He only said as he intensely looked to his owner.

"It's fine Steve... it'll wear off soon anyways..." It wasn't the first time either, it would wear off soon as much as he was sure about, "We know it will..." His voice cracked once again at the same time his breathing became heavier, he wasn't feeling right, he didn't know if he would though. It wasn't just an anxiety but a constant feeling of worry that didn't stop making him feel sick but something else, something heavy in his chest that was urging him to get out for once at all, related to all the things that she saw yesterday, related to the mayor and related, indirectly to him. His hand was back on his mouth as he felt his throat contracting and his stomach trying to pump up whatever was in its inside, he felt very stressed, much more than the usual... he then feel upon his knees trying to calm down, inhaling and exhaling deeply... "I can't tell her..." He mumbled, "I can't tell her yet..."

His stomach then tugged, making him feel more sick. It was becoming worse, it never used to become _**that**_ bad, in fact it was the first time in two years he's feeling like being eaten alive... his trembling body wouldn't be able to handle much longer and would end up giving in at the pressure he felt. Steve quickly got out his box and went downstairs like looking out for help, leaving the scientist alone... he couldn't avoid shrink into a ball and hug his legs like a scared child, he wasn't used to feel like that and it felt overwhelming, it made him feel so... petty...

He made a royal effort to calm down, but it felt so pointless, it felt everything, so cold – even much colder than other times. As much as he's been trying to lock down some feelings, they were now coming back harder than he would ever want... and he wasn't even sure why, why he was feeling so... probably afraid would be the right word to it? Because the more he thought about everything, the more anxious he felt; it was a breakdown already...

Perhaps the mere thought of ending up being alone once again was the thing that was keeping him like that, that's all he could think somehow under the pressure of his mind, he didn't want that little girl to leave him alone, and of course, as much as she retired her word about forgetting about her in case she had to leave and not get attached, sooner or later it'd happen, right? Her family was probably looking after her, she wouldn't be able to stay and he had to accept that...

Besides, it wasn't the first time he was alone, right...?

First his mother, then...

"_**Flint!**_" A young voice called, "_**What's wrong?! Please calm down!**_"

The darkness that was starting to surround him and his view started to fade away as he (barely) could see Alice checking on him in despair, her face discomposed into pure fear calling out his name; his body felt so numb and contracted at the point he didn't feel able to move a single muscle, instead of moving him from his place she quickly moved his limbs so she would be able to hug him as tight as her arms could. It took a long while, she was becoming more and more afraid of his condition until he finally hugged back in the same way she was doing it.

Slowly he sat down, with the small girl crying uncontrollably against his chest due the obvious startle... "I'm sorry for scaring you like this, Alice..." He said, "I promise that I didn't mean to do it..." He couldn't cope with it this time, that was the problem. He couldn't cope with the idea of having to get used back to be alone (not entirely because he had Steve, but because of having a real friend having to part away). In part he blamed that to his moody teenager years though, all the hormonal changes going on and stuff were quite heavy, on the other hand that wasn't entirely the case even if probably had something to do there, "I'm fine now..." That was a royal lie he didn't know she would actually believe in, "I just... have way too much in my head... it's not the first time..."

"You don't have to deal with it alone..." She said weakly against his chest, "You have me to talk with..." He sniffed calling out her attention more, "Please..."

"I don't want you to leave the island..." He felt her surprise, "It's... stupid... I know... but I don't actually want you to leave... I think about it and... it makes me feel... stressed... I don't want to be alone..." There was much more he wanted to say, but his throat didn't let him say anything else either. "A-and I'm sorry for s-scaring you like this again..." He chuckled sadly, with his voice cracking up again, "I'm just... a complete mess..."

He made her release him and look at his eyes; her face was very red for the tears, it made him feel bad once again as it felt like playing with her feelings unawarely. He sniffed hard trying to calm down, the small smile he gave to her turned into a grimace, but other than that, it was alright... instead of cleaning up his face he did it with her, wiping the tears away with his thumbs and then clean up his with his sleeves, then apologized once again for his sudden breakdown; and softly he kissed her forehead, to proceed to hug her once again but less stressed.

Trying to get over that scene they went to wash their faces once again, with the inventor cleaning her face like his mom would, to then pass downstairs holding hands; it was cute indeed, how they looked like brother and sister and how he showed a more human side asides of his technical, science-freaky side. Once they were done with breakfast the young inventor told her that she could go to have some fun with her new friends which was taken with certain insecurity from her...

"Yes, I'm sure about it, Alicia." He said with a smile and using her name.

"I don't know..."

"It'll be alright, I promise I'll be okay. Just stop worrying so much about me and have some fun with your new friends instead," She was surprised that he actually sounded very honest in his words, like more than being a way to distract her mind from his previous breakdown, he did want her to enjoy, "You should enjoy your time with other people asides of me too..." Bittersweetness was palpable again, she hated it.

"You're not a weirdo for me Flint..." She said looking down a bit, "You're just too nice for them..."

Agh! That feeling of melting came back with her sweetness, unable to do anything else but needing to give her a tight hug in response, taking out a giggle from her. Out of sudden everything felt better, and it felt that his relation with her has grown up a bit more than before... her shyness was probably to not get attached to him, that's all what pretty much he could tell, and at least she changed her mind about her previous petition; his scientific side still wanted to play some tests on her, though, he didn't want her to get mad either. Whatever she had to tell he had to wait for it, and as much as it made him go to straight despair because of his cat-like curiosity, he understood her point too.

He had something to tell her too anyways...

It was quite difficult until he managed to convince her to go out and play with the other kids as he did a day ago (even if she broke into an abandoned house and met their former owners), interact with the others... school days were pretty much reaching its end and they had a few day offs as there was nothing else to study about asides of just filling the last remaining days of the school calendar. The only reason he wasn't going to high school anymore was because he struggled a lot to get himself promoted to superior grades due his intelligence, being pretty pointless to keep on stuck in a same place with stuff that he already knew and having ended it just some time ago. Yes, it was hard to convince teachers to allow him a promotion due his age, he didn't really know how he managed to do it, but part of him thought it was just to get ridden of him.

Maybe because he accidentally made the chemistry lab explode twice when he was testing some substances even if he was quite aware of how dangerous that could be, or when he accidentally created this garbage-bot with way too much sass (1) as a science project that at least self-destroyed itself after seeing itself into a mirror... or because his notes at anything related to science, math and derivative were clean and perfect at the point he was almost qualified to give a class himself, even if he kinda sucked way too much with P.E. Or because in the IQ tests he was simply outstanding...

In any case, whatever they were planning, they just got totally ridden of him before anything else exploded and costed them a fortune, getting his promotion ceremony at least... and that was the story in an an utter nutshell.

Why would they even want to keep an outcast/threat like him any longer?

"At least she already left..."

He had something else to do anyways...

.

_ **Five minutes later...** _

Contrary to the previous clear days, that day was cloudy, with grey clouds passing by in the sky like getting ready to let their water pour down in a soft rain anytime later, making her calculations, it could probably happen at some point in the afternoon past noon, or even near the sunset; but for some other reason she felt like there was something else lurking around, wanting to come near... the clouds felt like telling there was a bad augury incoming, something bad going to happen, but she couldn't understand why actually... it was... odd.

"Wazzup with the gloomy face, Alice?" She looked at Cal out of sudden when he talked to her, snapping her out of thoughts, "You seem to be worried."

"It's nothing..." She hoped it was nothing and just her imagination, "Don't worry about it." Said giving him a smile, then received a look to see if she was being honest and then look away, apparently having believed it. Honestly, she was worried about whatever could be roaming at the point, it wasn't just a hope for being her imagination, she was wishing to be just it.

They were heading to Cassie's home, they were going to meet the kids from the day before for a soccer match as an arrangement they did after retrieving the baseball ball from the haunted house... they passed by there, she felt someone staring from the windows, and as much as she couldn't see them, it seemed like someone was moving the curtains to take a look outside. Maybe they were waving at her even if she was unable to see them, think about that and their kindness made her smile at the house and then back to her path, somehow, dragging the previous thoughts away.

Then they reached her house, finding her already ready to leave with a smile, "They shall put us in the same team!" She said excited, making them giggle, "And I'm being serious, the least they can do is pick the three of us for retrieving their stupid ball from that house yesterday." And she was right about it.

"I don't mind it anyways..." Alice said with a soft voice, "Oddly, it was fun..." She got a weirded out glance from her friends.

"You're still weird..." Cal said, "But you're still cool. Also..." He looked to the sides like paying attention and see if no one else was listening, "I asked to my parents about the house yesterday and... well... you were right when you said that the ghost said she knows my mom..." The lost one in the conversation was the hazel-eyed girl, who looked at them confused, "She said they were good friends as they were the first people to visit us when we first moved here when I was born and... how a few months later it happened..."

"Uh... Flint told me something similar yesterday... he said his parents were childhood friends," She proceeded to explain him what her friend told her before, and how his mom was the one who found out about their deaths in the exact way he told the whole story, showing up concern in the face of her new friends about it, because, of course it was, "And that's all..." The more she thought about it the muddy it felt, surely, at the same time she thought that the greed of a single man was the reason of their deaths.

Had him something else to do with Flint's breakdown...?

The voice of her friends made her snap from her thoughts as she looked at them, rubbing her eyes a bit as if she just woke up. They asked if she was alright, receiving a positive answer, to then get ready to go away to the soccer field behind the school. Sighing deeply she just remained behind them with her mind lost in thoughts about the last three days, taking a look to her surroundings like looking for someone... everything that she was told about the story of the island did something in her mind, being completely aware that there was danger around the place and also many other things buried under the pavements (not literally, but who knew).

His words the previous day when he was talking about Shelbourne put a huge question mark in her mind... he was talking like he witnessed it first-handed, and it felt... overwhelming... How? Well, it was hard to explain but... she could feel his pain when he said about not hesitating to kill if he wanted, which kept meaning that if he really was the one behind the death of the McHale because of their money to have full royalties upon the now defunct cannery (which in the end didn't matter if he had all the power of the world), what would ever stop him from getting ridden of the people he considered a nuisance?

The same fears Flint was experimenting before were coming to her, making her bite her cheeks as she tried to drive those thoughts away. As much as she wanted to keep thinking that everything was going to be alright, she knew that in reality there would be a point where they probably would end up crossing paths and even maybe having a clash having in mind his background could end into a disaster where he... could end immersed in a crossfire...

And he could die...

Unawarely her steps stopped in the middle of the pavement as her gaze went lost to the front, filling her eyes with fear when that possibility showed up... her body started to tremble a bit with the possible ideas of what can ever happen to him, just the idea was... overwhelming... the many things crossing her mind were too much, she wanted to get ridden of them and go back to her previous activities but she was finding herself unable to do so, feeling anxiety started to take over but unlike her friend previously, she wasn't showing signs of it asides of the lost, scared gaze and the trembling body.

It came back: the feeling of something dark incoming, lurking in the shadows like a black cat in a dark night waiting to happen, the weather has been making her feel like that too, but honestly, she's been having that feeling for a long while already, pretty much since she woke up. As much as she hoped for it to be just her imagination, instinct was hardly able to get fooled, it could happen that same day at the same time it was a chance to happen some day after.

There was an actual reason of why she asked him to not get attached, but because of her own feelings towards that teenager she barely knew, that stupid inventor that ended up being such a humble being and turning up the world upside down in certain mode, well, she ended telling him to forget about it. Yes, she ended up regretting about telling him that when she saw that he actually cared about her _**that**_ much, and it wasn't just fair to make such kind of request when she was unable to not do the same.

> _ **It doesn't matter where you hide, I will find you and I will kill you!** _

"Alice!" The voice of her friends brought her back to reality, she looked to her sides to see that she was now standing in a corner of the street. How any more annoying could be to just unplug from reality out of sudden and get everyone worried for no reason? "Are you okay?" Cassie asked worried, "Gosh, you don't seem so good..."

"I'm alright..." Well, that was quite of a lie because she fully wasn't, "Don't worry..." An excuse to not make them worry about her because of her problems, "Just..." There wasn't an excuse to justify her disconnection from reality this time, "Nevermind..." It was complicated to explain in any way. There were still just many things she wouldn't be able to explain properly even if she wanted. They would probably be afraid of her if she tells them the truth... "Let's go..." The last thing she did there was give them a fake smile even if she was already way too tired of pretending...

She knew that she was going to reach that very point where nothing would be able to be hidden under the carpets anymore, and how everything would explode at some point... and what would happen next?

She made an effort to pretend she was okay for the rest of the way towards the soccer field even if her world was falling down into pieces from behind, but that was the thing she was good at... as long they were oblivious to her reality everything would be alright, right? It uh... had to be like that... right? The less they knew the safer they would all be, or was she trying to protect herself from their reaction? It wouldn't work anyways... as much as she wanted it wouldn't work.

Somehow she repressed the growing desire of running away from them and going back to the lab and hug Flint as tight as she couldn't and tell him the entire truth without caring his reaction or what he could tell her. It didn't matter anymore in that moment, everything she was looking for in that right moment was for comfort and cry, just cry as hard and loud as her lungs could until she couldn't keep going while someone was there hugging her so hard; as much she hated to admit, she became addict to his warmth and kindness...

It was hard to not become too attached to someone like him though, he was gentle, kind, clever, he wasn't just the weirdo everybody else sees, and of course she was agree with the ghosts when they described the young version they knew, because apparently he didn't change his ways from those days despite all the pain he went through... and it was very admirable that he didn't change his ways despite what life has done to him, how unfair were the ways he got treated for so long, and pretty much everything.

He was very admirable in her honest opinion, they just were too dumb to see it.

Then they reached the soccer field, she was looking pale, with her arms trembling softly – almost imperceptible, like holding an anxiety attack growing and spreading in her inside like a wild fire, and again, somehow she was managing to keep all of it down, seeking to have a good time even if she felt her own mood going from up to down in a mere fraction of second, completely revolving her stomach at the point she felt unable to lift up her mood. There wasn't anything she could think about aside of her head being a complete bunch of mixed nuts and utter gibberish coming from one side to another without allowing her to actually know what was going on... and it was becoming so... stressful...

"Alice?" The voice of Cassie made her snap for a moment, making her yelp out of sudden for the surprise, "Hey, are you sure you feel alright? Because you look... pale..."

There was a voice in Alice's mind telling (yelling) her to stop pretending and run all the way back to the laboratory, find Flint and cry at the top of her lungs until she couldn't breath anymore. And of course, again, she didn't...

"I am..." Lies, "I really am..." Secrets and lies, "Don't worry..." She wanted to scream out loud so hard, but all of that energy was stuck inside somewhere, "It's completely okay..." It wasn't even close to be okay, "Just..." She wanted her mom again, she and Flint together to comfort her as much as possible, "Don't mind my stupid arse, okay...?" The more she spoke the more she felt like screaming so hard in silence for help, way too hard, but unable to be heard.

Well, Flint _**could**_ hear her screams of help since the second day after they heard Talk and how she talked about her life, but he didn't seem able to help her... not yet at least... not unless she told him what the actual problem was.

"Well... listen to me... if you really need to talk, do it with me... okay?" She said, "You're also a friend, and that's what friends are for, right?"

There her body trembled more than before, her face became red at the same time her eyes started to fill up with tears, to then look down whimpering slightly. The hazel-eyed girl then became worried, looking to the group she made her walk away from them to not drag anyone's attention and hug her so tight, receiving it back as hard as she could unable to handle her sobs... and that's where she felt helpless, just being able to handle her breakdown as much as possible. All she knew was that her friend was completely troubled and holding a lot down, and of course she also knew it could become worse if she didn't let it out... they were behind the wooden steps, a place where they would hardly spot them.

"I'm sorry..." Finally the new girl said, "I'm so sorry I... I can't..." Her breathing was way too heavy, having a lot of problems to not be close to choke between inhaling, her hazel-eyed friend made her look to her eyes and focus there, "Cassie I..." She swallowed hard, whimpering in the same way as she tried so much to calm down, "Please... if... if I tell you the truth... can you... please... keep the secret...? I promise to explain you later but... don't tell anybody... I haven't talked to Flint about this yet and... I really, really wanna but... I-I-I'm so s-scared..."

"Sure, what is it?" She asked curious, her friend looked to her sides like paying attention, to then receive another request about not screaming nor doing anything weird even if it was hard... Alice leaned to her ear and told her, for a moment, there was silence, the girl was looking down really stressed, "Alice, are you being serious? I mean..."

"I'm being honest... believe it or not... why do you actually think I could hear them yesterday?!" She asked with distress, the hazel-eyed girl was about to reply, but no word came out from her mouth "I know you may have questions but... please... just... give me some time... I promise to give you more answers later..." As much as she wanted to ask again, the fact of seeing her becoming more and more anxious about it made her hold it.

"Okay Al..." She said, "I trust you..." She gave her a sincere smile as she held out her hand to her, the new girl looked at it for a moment in some sort of disbelief, "Hey, even if it sounds so crazy... you're still my friend... and you have proven to be really nice..." And out of sudden he found herself being tightly hugged by Alice, who was clenching her back apparently not wanting to let go, "It's alright... you can trust me whenever you need it..."

The new girl thanked her over and over again, as if she found a rock to lean against for the moment... it took a few minutes until she finally managed to calm down, sniffing and cleaning up her face, to then crack up a small smile... "Thank you... thank you so much... you don't know how much this actually means for me..."

Maybe she did know, that's why she agreed to do it, right? Well, it could be...

It took a little longer before they went back to the group, who looked at them coming as they realized their absence. There were already two groups of people for the game, apparently, one side was full, and thankfully enough, they were at Cal's side... "What happened to you two?" He asked curious, "Alice? Are you sure you're okay?" She just nodded with a small smile, she wasn't exactly _**that**_ fine either, but well enough maybe. "Alright, Alice you'll be the goalie, get ready."

He received a nod in response with a small smile, the two groups got ready as a couple of kids went to take seat on the grass. Just a friendly soccer match where rules didn't really matter that much, they all took their positions as she remained in the goal zone looking closely to every movement they did... oh well, at least she was going to be there, because she was normally really bad to tell who was a friend and who was from the opposite band when they didn't use uniforms to tell the difference.

Her senses became active when the sound of the ball being kicked was heard, starting up the match, her eyes darted to far in the distance, seeing them all playing hard trying to get the ball and take it to the goal area. It passed to the other side with a kick with a loud thud-like noise, to then bounce up in the air to middle field as the ones to her side went behind it, the ball bounced against the ground once, and then there was a clash that reminded her to two football players that tried to hit the ball with their heads, with one of the kids clashing with his elbow the chest of his friend making them fall down.

Oof, that must hurt a lot...

The fact of them standing back up and helping each other for it made her see that everything was alright, to then hear the sound of the ball getting kicked again towards her direction... she didn't move for the dismay of everyone in her team... and there was a reason: it bounced against the soccer goal and flew to her left outside, the opposite team made a groan and faces of disappointment as hers thought it was just pure luck, while in reality, she just made a fast calculation to realize that; she quickly then ran towards the ball as it was in her area, getting it, going back to her zone, placing it on the kick spot and take some steps back.

Her eyes searched for Cassie and Cal for a quick moment, spotting her right behind the line of the contrary side, and him closer to the goal zone... she smiled a bit and ran against the ball, apparently missing the kick at first; as a reflect, they all looked back to then realize nothing happened, and in that right moment where they realized is when she actually gave a hit to the ball making it fly straight to the other side upon their heads and right towards Cal, who apparently understood her play; he jumped and hit it with his head, marking a perfect goal that could barely get avoided. "Yes!" She exclaimed now with a playful bright in her eyes at the same time she saw her team celebrating, and tried to remember their faces so she wouldn't be that predictable next time.

And so the game went on, with her remaining in the goal zone, being probably the best gatekeeper they saw in a long while and also having an amazing couple of legs that were able to make long shots that could almost reach the other soccer goal easily, and then in the end an hour later, the victory became theirs! Of course they cheered her for the victory as she didn't let the ball get into her zone in any single moment – which was very impressive. It was almost noon now, Cassie took away Alice for a while with a wide grin upon her face wanting to talk to her...

"Hey, were you... you know..." She said, Alice only nodded, "That was awesome! You completely rocked there!" She said in a joyful manner, "Tell me, what else can you do?"

"Well..." She said blushed, "I also know martial arts and fencing... and I can dance too... well I can... uh... do a lot of things actually..."

"You have to tell me everything!" She exclaimed grabbing her arms and grinning widely, "It's so freaking awesome!"

"Uh... I-I'll do it in another moment Cassie..." Alice said, "H-honestly this is all still weird for me... d-don't get me wrong..." Her friend gave her a smile and a hug, understanding her point, "I'll... go back to the house and get lunch..."

There was another hug, a nod, to then part ways. The girl quickly ran back to the house feeling certain happiness mixed with a slight fear about what she told her... it'd be alright, right? She wanted to believe that, despite the fact she wasn't sure it'd happen or not. The only reason she told her about it was because she needed to let it out, but she was unsure about her reaction after telling her the entire thing and how screwed up the situation actually was... but well, there wasn't a way to back down again, it was too late to do that.

She felt stupid.

It didn't take long until she reached the Lockwood house again, it felt weird, as if something was out of place... quickly she went upstairs calling out the name of her friend, feeling damn tired of hiding it and needing to tell him the truth about everything before it was too late for it; he wasn't anywhere around... it made her feel... uneasy... something was wrong. "Steve!" She called out, his lab partner quickly arrived, "Where's Flint?"

"Out!" The vervet monkey exclaimed. How long did he actually leave? She looked to her sides like seeking for something to help her, to then go to his closet and get one of his clean shirts, "Sniff!" She heard him exclaiming again, she closed her eyes and sniffed the clothe, like trying to focus in his smell like a dog hound...

"I got it!" Twisting on her heels she left the shirt fall and ran out in the same way she came from, before going back inside the house, she got a roll of bandages in case he was hurt and bleeding and another couple of first aid stuff, having in count his wounded arm and in case it opened back, to then pass to the main street and run towards the old cannery...

He was in troubles...

* * *

_ **A while ago** _

Now she was away playing with friends, he went back upstairs to get his morning coffee once again, this time having managed to hold up his anxiety and sigh deeply... it's been a nice way to start with his day, wasn't it? Completely break down out of sudden as he tried to keep all his bad thoughts locked away and get back to what he actually cared, to then remember he was still human and someone who cared about the people who approached to him like her and he didn't want to be alone even if loneliness itself was already a good ol' friend.

He looked at Steve, his trustful partner lab to remind himself he wasn't entirely alone, but at the same time, the more he didn't want to remember about it, he knew that despite everything, he was still just a monkey and he needed a _real _human friend to palliate that feeling more... yeah, his lab partner managed to do that, but just a bit... it wasn't enough, but later on he did manage to get himself over that feeling in part by talking to him and to himself. Subconsciously he still felt as lonely as usual, and there were times he felt brand more lonely than the usual...

It's been so different in the last days...

The reason he always repeated to himself that everything would be okay and it would just go away was because he was already too used to feel like that and make it wear off at some point... but this time... he got that nightmare, and she was there trying to wake him up, to then proceed to hug him as tight as her arms could out of concern; how he cut his arm with glass because of an accident and how scared she was for his condition, the way she _actually_ cared about him... she really, really cared about him so much, and then, what'd happen if she leaves?

He would be alone again...

Come on, it wasn't the first time somebody leaves his side either, right? That's why he couldn't have friends in the way he wanted, because something would come and totally ruin it.

Someone comes, they befriended, something happens, and they're gone...

And it makes him want to cry...

Placing down the empty cup upon his desktop, he went to the bathroom to wash his face for a moment, when he looked to the looking glass all he could see was a beaten teenager with bags under his eyes and a pale skin that only lived with coffee and randomly sardines whenever he didn't have many options though.

His MP3 player was playing music somewhere in his lab, it was a song he heard a long time ago... how was the name...? Oh yes, _Breakeven _or something like that. The first verses, and mostly the first line of the entire song were the thing that fitted the most to his actual mood, "I'm still alive but barely breathing..." He sung softly, sitting around, with his hands together and looking down.

_Just prayin' to a god that I don't believe in..._  
'Cause I got time while she got freedom...  
'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even...

He closed his eyes letting some tears down his face. He remember he first heard that song a couple of years ago when it just came out, and it felt like a pain reliever after...

_Her best days will be some of my worst  
She finally met a man that's gonna put her first..._

Even if that wouldn't really ever happen anymore...

_While I'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping  
'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even, even, no..._

He let out a sad chuckle, because it was true though...

_What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?_

Funny enough, that was a scream from him...

_And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK..._

Even if she would really never be okay...

_I'm falling to pieces, yeah  
I'm falling to pieces..._

Once again, after so long, he was actually crumbling down terribly... harder, stronger, louder... he hated it so much...

_They say bad things happen for a reason...  
But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding..._

Oh really? Sure, probably bad things happens for a fucking reason, and then everything it did was leave a crumbled mess out of him, a crumbled, crazy mess that was always hard to clean and could become worse and worse with time...

_'Cause she's moved on while I'm still grieving...  
And when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven even, no_

There it came again, with tears flowing down his face, and he was grieving a loss once again...

_What am I gonna to do when the best part of me was always you?_  
And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK?  
I'm falling to pieces, yeah...  
I'm falling to pieces, yeah...

Falling in small, tiny pieces that were almost like smithereens by a glass breaking down..._  
_

_I'm falling to pieces...  
(One still in love while the other one's leaving)_

That was his case in some way... even if she left long ago...

_I'm falling to pieces...  
('Cause when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven)_

He had his face hiding against his legs, sobbing in silence as he couldn't handle his grief any longer... it's been so damn long since the last time he actually felt like that... of course he hated it so much... yet, it was the constant reminder of how he was still just a human being...

_Oh you got his heart and my heart and none of the pain,_  
You took your suitcase, I took the blame,  
Now I'm try'na make sense of what little remains ooh  
'Cause you left me with no love and no love to my name...

The feeling was relatable, yet not exactly his case... it was... almost, very close to an actual experience of a break-up yet harder than that...

_I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing..._

Once again that was his case... and now he was trying to pour down all the possible pain to feel better at some point of the day, or at least, before Alice came back from the playground...

_Just prayed to a god that I don't believe in..._  
'Cause I got time while she got freedom...  
'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break...  
No it don't break  
No it don't breakeven no!

Someone please, make the pain stop for once at all...

_What am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you and..._  
What am I suppose to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK?  
(Oh glad you're okay now)  
I'm falling to pieces yeah...  
I'm falling to pieces yeah...  


_I'm falling to pieces_  
(One still in love while the other ones leaving)  
I'm falling to pieces yeah  
('Cause when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven)

_Oh it don't breakeven no..._

The song was fading away as he was on the floor now, curled up in a ball crying in silence feeling like a complete baby and also... uh... overexposed could be a right word for it? Well, probably it was the right word for his actual mood even if there was nobody around asides of his lab partner, he tried to calm down so much, but he entirely felt unable to do that at the moment. All he wanted was to switch back to his happy-go-luck/creative self and turn off this side of his he used to hate a lot...

It took around five more minutes before he decided to stand up and get back to the bathroom to clean up his face, this time avoiding to look at his reflex on the mirror. Sighing deeply he seemed ready to leave the lab, opening the windows to let some air get in; for a moment his arm felt like stinging, right in the spot where he got the cut last day, to then get another reminder of her kindness... "Stop it!" He exclaimed to himself, "Just stop it! Don't think about it anymore or you'll get it worse...!"

He felt so stressed... just, too much, way much more than he wanted... he was feeling horrible, like a complete wreck, he couldn't think right... shaking his head he went downstairs, cracking up his fingers one by one still seeking to calm himself down one way or another without success, biting his cheeks gently. He passed through the sliding door, with his eyes looking down in every moment as he kept trying to remain with a low profile, not wanting to people seeing him cry...

One thought: keep walking, just that. Then he mumbled, "Fuck..." He wanted and needed a flower... biting his lower lip he searched for a rose, whatever color it was from a bush, or whatever flower in his way – no, no... he couldn't just pick up one randomly, it had to be something special... where were those blue campanulas he used to get whenever he was going to visit her? There was one house that got those beautiful flowers in the front yard against the fence, being one of those few things that actually made the town colorful...

It was nearby his destiny so... he could pick up some...

So he did, once he reached the house, he gently cut off a branch full of those flowers he considered pretty, the owners didn't have any problems about it anyways, they've seen him doing that a couple of times, yet they never said anything about it. In a normal case, anyone would've kicked him away from there; slowly he kept walking, there was no one around the street this time, either in their works or still sleeping, he didn't know, he didn't care right now... the smell of the flowers were making him calm down, mixing up with a feeling of melancholy...

Looking to his sides, he reached a different house: a huge, two-floored house that was bigger to the back side, with a bright, white color and black roof; the porches was of the same color as the roof. Among all the things around the entire city, that... mansion was pretty much the only place that looked renewed and relatively fresh... he sighed deeply, knowing that he was safe as the owner – the crazy madman they had as a mayor was still away in the States.

He was still alone there, so he slowly stepped into the front yard, but instead of going to the front door he went to a side towards a spotlight... sighing very deeply, he slowly opened it and looked to the dark inside of the wide basement, which seemed quite empty in some parts. There was no one around neither nobody seemed to be at home, so he quickly turned around to enter... the air was cold, the ambient heavy, there were a few things around he couldn't see right, he didn't really care though and went to the darkest corner of the room... the closer he got, the slower he went... a few tears were rolling down his cheeks as he bit his lower lip nervous... then, there he was...

"Hey Mar..." He said with his voice trembling softly, "I'm sorry for not having came in a while but... I've been waiting for him to be away because... you know... I don't want troubles..." There was a brief silence as he teared up more, sniffing hard as he cleaned up his face, giving a grimace, "H-hey... how have you been...? I... I brought you some flowers..." He went closer to that corner, from what was seen, there was a white coffin surrounded with flowers of several kinds, he left his in a place hidden, "Heh... do you remember when you told me how much you liked these campanulas...?" There was an overwhelming pain growing in his inside, "H-hey... I-I met someone... nice a-a few days ago..." His body was shaking as he took a brief pause, swallowing hard once again, "Her name is Alice... she's... uh... ten years old... and... she's... amazing..." He was now shaking more as the words trembled out, to then sniff, "She... she's not... not from here... uh... she's from... far... away... and..." He whimpered softly trying to control his emotions, something he was miserably failing at, "You'd... probably like her..." He gave a small smile, sniffing once again, "I mean she's so different from kids of her age and stuff and... I wish you were still here..."

He couldn't avoid to fall down and sniff again, starting to cry in silence at the feet of the coffin... "I'm really sorry... you're here because of me... I should be the one down here and not you... you didn't deserve this..." It was really silly to talk to someone who was dead, right? Scientifically it was impossible for them to hear a living as they were already dead, regardless that, there he was once again, having done the same all over again during two years... and now he felt like he really, _really_ needed to do it again.

He poured out his pain for a long while, he wasn't sure how long exactly asides of just needing to do it, he laughed, softly for a moment before it turned into a sob as his forehead leaned against the coffin... he tried to control himself, conscious that he didn't have long before anyone, maybe got in; he was good enough hiding though, yet, in any way he didn't want to get into any sort of troubles even if the owner – better said the mayor wasn't in the island... how long they still had freedom from him? Five, four days? It didn't matter in that moment if he was honest... he didn't care anymore, it was just... enough... besides who would even miss him in the island if he left to the other side?

> _ **Just... just... you and your father... don't get too... attached to me... because I'll only make you suffer...** _

She probably didn't really care about him though... everything she was doing was just pretend... "But why do you think she's pretending with you, Lockwood?" He quickly raised up his gaze and looked to his sides, swearing to God he heard this unknown voice that seemed to come from an old man... was he already nuts? Heh, he wouldn't be surprised anymore if he was... and he didn't have any strength to get up again, just leaning gently against the white, sealed case once again, sighing deeply, "She really loves you, believe it or not... why do you think she ended up regretting for asking you to forget about getting attached to her?" The voice said again, "There's nothing in this world that's been making her as happy as you, and she really, really cares about you... or you think she wouldn't have gotten scared when you cut your arm yesterday, or when you had your breakdows?" There was a brief pause, "She gave you his heart... don't toy with it..."

He didn't reply for a while, feeling just too low to think for an answer until he said, "I don't wanna lose her too..." He said, sniffing harder as he whimpered softly, "I just don't want her to leave me alone again... I'm so tired of being lonely and... I'm used to it but... it's so hard to go back there after someone approaches... I hate this feeling but... I cannot help it... not... right now..." His chest felt like aching, almost burning in pain, "I'm just afraid... because everything I touch gets ruined..." He sniffed again, "First my mom... and a few years later was her... I don't want Alice to be the next now..." Pour out all his pain to the nothingness like that was starting to make effect, making his chest feel less and less hurt and pressed, "I have to talk to her about her now... I really need her to know about this or else..." It would end up eating him alive in a worse way than ever.

Slowly everything became clear as his sorrow started to low down, lifting up his head as he stood up, feeling his legs wobbling like jelly with a resolution... he had to talk about it to Alice no matter how much it could hurt, because despite everything, she was smart and understanding – more than anyone of her age of course. Even with the darkness of the room, it was notorious his red face and his eyes in bloodshot for the tears, in part he felt like a ghost, but that feeling was less hard than it was a while ago; he really, and actually really needed more than ever to talk to Alice about her, because he already needed to let everything out... "Mar... before I go, I... I love you..."

Cleaning up his face he got ready to leave, feeling a weight having being lifted up from his shoulders and cracking up an almost imperceptible smile, to then shake his body a bit in order to feel it, cracking his neck releasing tension. Now he had it clear, finally, after days everything started to become clear... there he headed to the same spotlight where he got in and climbed out, carefully to not being spotted by anyone – mostly and even less from Earl who could actually now confuse him for a burglar and Brent who lived in the house, and never was aware of his visits... the coast was clear, he could leave in peace.

In normal cases he would wait until night was at its zenith to visit her, when everyone was asleep. Not at midnight, but somewhere during 2:00 or 3:00 AM when he couldn't have any sleep and he actually needed to get there. It wasn't the first time, neither the last, no one never saw him neither getting in nor out, otherwise, a long time ago he could've gotten himself into a list of disappeared people, that was for sure. This time the (his) situation was unhandable, one he couldn't take any longer because of the many things that's been passing through his head over and over again from here and then and his stupid anxious arse screaming things and whispering gibberish and... it was too much. Much more than he could handle already.

Who is she? What happened to her? Well... they–

"Hello nerd!" He heard a familiar voice from behind, this time it wasn't Brent but the voice of one of his annoying peers, "Where are you going? Huh?" He turned around, the two friends of his usual bully were now hanging out without him, "And where is your little girlfriend?" One of them was smiling, like telling that he was in serious troubles for what happened a couple of days ago.

"I really gotta go Alex," He said firmly, "I have something to do right now..." They started to laugh a bit at his statement, completely belittling it making the young inventor bite his lower lip a bit in response, feeling a growing danger in the air... he had to leave now.

Flint quickly turned around ready to run off, hoping to do it in time, but in that same moment he felt a grip around his arm, right where he got that cut a day ago making him flinch in pain even if the grip wasn't exactly that tight. Well it actually was and the pain there was worsening, making him hiss in pain as well, "Oh but we wanted to take you somewhere, Lockwood!" The other one said, the one known now as Alex held his arm slightly tighter with a grin, "Does it really hurts you? Oh, we didn't know you even were _that _fragile." There were more laughs from them as the pain kept growing, making him flinch more than before.

"Henry please let me go..." He yelped, sniffing a bit, "It really hurts...!" It wasn't until they saw blood staining his coat when they didn't let go, maybe that wound was closed, but it was still relatively new and sensible; he panted heavily, now feeling fear for whatever they had planned for him and Alice wasn't close to save him this time. That's why they came to him now, he didn't get out his house the day before, and now he was wandering alone again around, "Leave me alone..." He said again, stepping back from them like a scared cat.

Then he ran away, with them behind him. The pain in his arm was loud and horrible, as if something was constantly stitching his nerves over and over again with invisible needles, he first looked back and then to his way needing to hide and get back his way to home. Sadly enough, they were stomping his heels and he was right in the opposite direction from his house towards the cannery, but at least he had some distance from them... oh geez, where was Earl when he needed him?

On a bright side, his skinny-looking self was a good way to hide up his actual body shape: he was light and fast, incredibly, fast enough to get two football chasers away from him. Sometimes he thought that his constant accidents with his inventions, the falls, the hits, explosions and stuff made him gain a lot of endurance for those kind of cases... somehow it was surprising, such a shame his skin didn't become of stone or something, that'd be useful as hell. Anyways.

All the ways leaded them towards the cannery in the end, with the inventor having jumped the fence easily while his chasers took a few minutes to do it, giving him enough time to get in and find a place to hide; the inside was way destroyed than it looked from outside, with parts of the walls, ceiling and floor already down with large holes around; there were old conveyor chains around, old, rusty cans and many chains around the ceiling, with traces of fire left on what was seen from the walls... it brought... painful memories of course.

He had to be careful where he stood, or else he could fall to the ocean, and that wasn't pretty much an option – or was it? Oh, no it wasn't, as much it was a good idea that part had its dangers too. "Think fast Lockwood before they come..." He said to himself, who knew what were they planning to do this time anyways. He didn't want to find out either, all he knew is that they'd just humiliate him so much at the point he wouldn't be able to get out his laboratory for the rest of his life as a minimum. They always could get a way to mess up with him, even if they couldn't give him a wedgie, they still always found a way to hurt him...

Oh... tall places were good, right? He wasn't sure now, the rush wasn't allowing him to think straight either, yet in part he could... kind of. The platforms were unstable, rusty, damaged, and if he didn't have enough care he could fall and get a worse hit than the ones his inventions gives him already; he kind of wondered this time if the mayor paid them to torture him out of sudden, having in mind they were being slightly more aggressive and active than usual and of course they just loved to mess up with him as well, a good bribe was enough to get them working as he wanted. The only reason they didn't get him before was because he was either in his laboratory or with his father, and the affair of two days ago was with Alice... fuck.

"Lockwood!" The voice of Alex was heard from there, making him yelp. It was too late to hide upstairs, he had to sort out the gaps and dangers of the lowest floor of the entire cannery, which at the same time felt better than risking his life twice by sorting out the gaps up there, which was more unstable... he heard his own breathing becoming quick as he ran up the conveyor chains, to then land safely back to the floor being careful to not get it broken, already finding himself having ran half of the place and in a tall place when they arrived, to then keep going fast...

They were two against one, if they were just slightly clever enough they'd split their ways to get him one way or another, something they haven't done yet. He felt tired already, having not taken care of the wound yet now it started to bleed once again, just reminding it actually and still hurts a bit of pretty much a lot and how he shouldn't be forcing his muscles, but that wasn't happening and he had no other choice either, as everything had a limit, he would hit it anytime soon, and he was completely conscience of that...

There was a way he would be able to get out, which was get this hole on the other side of the cannery that would lead him outside upon a dock that would take him back to the shore which would be an Olympic lap towards his house. It was like a light at the end of a long cave, and he completely had hopes of getting away with it, isolating the pain of his arm away, the dizziness, and keeping himself focused on it... then, his foot got against something making him trip and roll a couple of times... getting him dizzy and his head spinning... without hesitating he stood back up, having to lean against whatever was next to him and keep going... it was so close... he was close...

"Lockwood!" He felt a grip from the collar of the back of his neck that made him turn around and get stomped against whatever he used to lean, his breathing was heavy as the ambient felt like decaying as well, "Were you going somewhere else?" Henry asked, receiving a scared stare from the inventor. "Oh, are we scaring you? Do you want your little girlfriend here with you?" He couldn't feel his wounded arm anymore, with the adrenaline rushing throughout his entire body and feeling his heart drumming against his chest... whatever they were planning... he didn't know...

"Alice!" He shouted starting to tear up, his voice echoed all over the place in an empty cry of help... he was just... scared as hell, "Help–!" There was a tight grip upon his mouth, even though maybe no one would hear him, they probably wanted to make sure no one would hear him. His blue eyes were wide open like plates as he let out a muffled whimper, breathing heavily and feeling how the air started to lack from his lungs at the point he felt like about to pass out...

This was going far from the usual... and it wasn't good...

The grips of Alex were tight, both the one upon his chest and the one upon his mouth, maybe he was a bit more superior than them in some physical stuff, but he had everything to lose whenever it comes for strength. The two first looked to each other like trying to decide what to do to completely humiliate him this time, he only wanted to flee somehow, there wasn't a way he'd be able to get away from them this time and he had to resign himself with the 'punishment' they had planned... "We can tie him up with his underwear!" Henry said, "You know, his 'wedgie-proof' underwear can be useful for some things!"

"He can also have a bungee ride from the roof! I'm sure he'd love it!" He tried to shake his head, but he couldn't, he hated the idea a bit of way too much, and of course they were getting him more and more scared.

"Yeah but how the fuck do we get there?" He relaxed just a little bit with the question, because it was fairly a good one. "Oh well we can find a way, can't we?" Shit... "Whatever. Get some chains to drag him upstairs then." There was a grin from his friend, who was ready to do what he asked and making the inventor get anxious once again, whimpering and trying to set himself free from them.

'Alice please... please come here...' He thought scared, 'Help me...' He could wish for somebody else maybe, but something deep inside was telling that she would be able to help him in case she ever realized where he was and how bad his situation was. He just wanted somebody to aid him before they could do their things on him...

Then they heard the sound of steps in a high place, chains being grabbed.

_ ***whistle*** _

The bullies looked back, but they didn't see anything, Alex felt how his grip suddenly loosened as he then realized that the inventor was high in the air being held by feet under his armpits, seeing that oh surprise! Alice just saved him. Everything happened too fast, even for the scientist, who took a good moment to realize what just happened... the pair of bullies quickly ran behind them as Alice let go one side of a chain she was using to swing around and landed in a platform that almost fell down, to then pull the rusty metallic object and drag it with her as they went to the internal stairs; he was about to run down, but for his surprise she clashed against the wall in front of them opening a hole wide enough for both of them to get out. For a moment he wondered how, then he pretty much attribute it to the weak structure of the cannery...

"Flint, come here!" She said spinning the chain fast like trying to get towards somewhere, they heard the sound of their screams getting near fast, "We will be alright, just hold me tight!" Her eyes were looking all over the place looking for a ledge or somewhere safe to jump and swing, without hesitating and prisoner of the panic he did what she asked, completely aware of the closeness of the bullies, "Got it!" She found an old lamp up in the distance, aiming at it she tossed the chain, making it spin twice against it, carefully she pulled it to see if it'd be able to handle their weight, hearing the sound of their steps already going up the stairs.

"Alice they're coming!" He screamed scared, holding her tight.

"Get ready!" In the right moment the pair was about to get them, she jumped down as they swung from the backside of the cannery to the side, in direction towards the exit.

He couldn't avoid looking back, feeling tired already for all the thrills, seeing the chasers looking at them get away to then go all the way down once again, the wind against his face because of the friction made him have a very deep breath as he kept trying to hold her tight, about to pass out for everything that's been happening in the last... twenty minutes (?); near the ground she released the chain, making them fly and land upon an old container and roll... he was already tired of running, he didn't feel able to run any longer...

The girl quickly carried him on her back and jumped down, dragging him to somewhere out of sight to check on his arm, sniffing in the process to see how stained his white coat was... carefully she removed it, feeling sticky, she yelped a bit when she saw how bad it was: the bandage used to cover it was completely stained, showing that he did lose a lot of blood, and the lack of color in his skin could tell that a lot more than it should; he gave her a smile trying to ease her, but it was futile this time. Quickly she got out some of the things she took from the lab, ready to clean up his arm, removing the bandage she proceeded to clean his arm, with him biting his blue shirt to avoid screaming at the top of his lungs how much it stings, twitching in pain and holding it as long as possible...

They heard their voices then, making the girl rush with the healing and cover it with new and fresh bandages and securing them to last until they reached a safer place to check it in a proper way – maybe going to Waterfront Street and asking Tim to take him to the hospital even if Flint would refuse; they waited a long while, trying to keep low profiles and avoid being spotted, and it probably wouldn't take long until they could get spotted... "Liz..." He said, she looked at him, "I'm scared..."

He felt her hand holding his, trying to make him believe that everything's not lost and they'd be alright... slowly they got out their hideout and took a peek, looking around for the two chasers... wait, they just realized that Henry was in the distance, but where was–?

She then felt how someone gripped her from behind and got him away from her friend, making him yelp in surprise, to then feel how he was tackled down by the other one. "I can't believe it worked!" One said with a grin, the girl lowered her head feeling bad now for having lowered her guard as well, to then clench her fist as a few tears were starting to drip down her eyes. Flint on the other hand got his arms behind his back breathing heavily once again amazingly scared... he was just looking down as Henry held him tight... so much running for nothing... and he was already tired enough to fight back...

It was that moment where he had to give up... right? He already tried everything to avoid capture and now there they were... how pathetic... on the other hand Alice was trying to think on something; maybe she wasn't struggling, but that didn't mean she would give up yet... there weren't just ideas in her head to let them go. "What are we gonna do now?" Henry asked, Alex seemed to think on something.

"Why don't we play in the toilet with him and leave the girl locked somewhere?" He asked with a grin, making his peer curve one too, "We can lock them in the old abandoned house too afterwards!" Such a fine couple of bullies who didn't have troubles in dragging a girl into their bullying towards the inventor, which was something that made her feel sick, "We just have to be careful to not drag anyone's attention if we'll do it. Should we get tape for it?" Oh my fucking God they were totally nuts indeed, on the bright side, at least the couple living in the house would probably be nice enough to set them free afterwards. His friend's grin widened with the proposal; the girl gave a glance to her friend, seeing that he wasn't reacting and being just resigned to whatever they were still planned... it just broke her heart...

Flint wasn't just thinking on anything anymore, being totally emptied from his thoughts, completely resigned to cope with them, unable to think, already careless of their plans... for once he was about to get away with it, and even more with her but... they were at their mercy now, right? And he was already really tired, not just for the rush but for the blood loss as well, he couldn't act anymore, he reached his limits, he was done. Totally and completely done for the day – or even the week, he didn't know nor care. They were ready to leave, only to see Brent coming in their direction looking confused this time...

Alice looked to him for a moment, showing a serious face as his peers cheered him up as he 'arrived just in time for the fun', she again looked at her friend, he still wasn't reacting, she wondered if he passed out as she couldn't see his face. "I heard you were here, what the heck is going on?" He asked sounding slightly... annoyed, to then look at the inventor and the girl.

"We captured a nerd and his girlfriend!" Alex said, making the girl roll her eyes in response, making her mumble something in Spanish. The older bully seemed... actually hesitating between let them go and make what his peers wanted, that's where she wondered if he was like that to like them or if he was actually like that and he casually wasn't in the mood for it. "Let's have some fun with them!" He opened his mouth to say something, but then he noticed her glance and how she asked him non-verbally to leave them alone, "Come on Brent, are you hesitating this time? You love to play with this loser a lot!"

"Well I–"

"Brent..." the girl said, "Please leave him alone..." Her voice was low yet sweet with a hint of despair, "Please... just look at him..." He did the asked and saw him, seeing him so languid and pity and the big red spot around his right arm, with his head low, what looked like tears down his face to the soil... "Leave him alone..." She said, "I'll take his place instead..."

There was a dead silence for a moment, seeming all surprised with her request.

"Alice..." The inventor said in a weak way, "Please... it'll be alright..." She shook her head, "Let's go... I accept whatever you have planned anyways..." He heard her sniffing, "Just get her out of this... she got nothing to do here..." It was true, yet she didn't care at all. If it meant saving his already worn out friend from torture then that was alright for her, he really needed a break and recover again, let his arm rest, everything. He insisted them to go despite the pleas of his friend, raising up his gaze he looked at Brent with a tired glance that showed resignation, feeling ready to face it.

She felt helpless at that point... she had an option but... she didn't want to do it... there was this voice in her mind, one arguing with her about how much of no choice she had to prevent all of it without going wild, but she completely refused at it, wanting to find another way... she snapped a bit from thoughts when she heard one of them asking if by any chance he brought tape, to then look at all of them concerned as hell. They weren't going to go back to the town for obvious reasons, having to find their 'fun' there now they were alone, she looked at the fat one of the group like begging him to change their mind and let them go, something they'd probably do if he told them...

But he looked away...

Indeed, that completely felt like a bucket of cold water that enraged her...

"Brent let us go..." She said, her voice changed in that moment, sounding now slightly aggressive, "I swear to God I don't wanna go wild so let us go!" Indeed that non-verbal action made her angry, preferring to ignore his conscience and do it more than let them just go. Of course he statement made the other two laugh, just pinching her nerves already.

They only ignored her threat, in harsh movement Henry made the inventor move his feet, to then hold again the same spot where he was wounded, this time he didn't flinch but let out a scream of pain.

That just added fire to the volcano.

"Enough!" She shouted – roared angrily, she got an arm free surprising Alex, to then grab his arm and incrust her nails tight, making him flinch and lose his grip from her. With the other arm free, she hit his chest with the elbow to push him away with an aggressive nature she was trying to hold down but couldn't anymore, surprising all the others and receiving a confused and surprised glare from Flint. Her captor tried to take her down from behind again, only to get avoided and get a hard, amazingly hard punch right on his face...

If he could make a quick comparission before his mind completely shutted down, it felt like a big, heavy fucking boulder just hit his face damn hard at the point he felt his jaw broken. It was that hard at the point his body flew a few meters backwards, rolling around and fell unconscious, with his nose bleeding and being looked with fear by the two remaining teenagers and the half-conscious young scientist... Enough was enough, she didn't want to get there, but there wasn't another option. She looked now at Henry with fierce in her eyes, showing coldness and hate and looking completely open to beat his face if he didn't let go her friend... without hesitation he did it, making him fall down, and then feel a hit right on his stomach product of a header, making him fall backwards and cough for air...

And Flint saw that too, feeling impressed and... scared...? She was angry indeed, but he didn't think she could actually get that aggressive either... it was impressive and scary at the same time... he couldn't think straight... then she looked at Brent in the same angry way, yet, he swore he saw her eyes burning in rage towards him, "Alice..." He said, but it was late. When he realized she launched himself towards the remaining teenager and hit his face too, once, twice, and harder; the remaining bully tried to defend himself, but he couldn't she was somehow just stronger and agile than him...

There he fell to the ground as she didn't stop hitting his face over and over again in a blind rage, with every hit becoming heavier as the tears jumped out her eyes, clenching her jaws tight as if she was still containing a lot of rage inside, letting it burn wild... "I fucking told you to leave us alone! Didn't I?!" She screeched to not scream raging; from Flint's side, it took a good while until he realized he had to realize what was going on due the tiredness...

"Alice please stop!" He said, as if that was a command, in the right moment where she was going to hit him again, her punch stopped, remaining still like a statue... her eyes lacked of bright, looking like an angry beast in its lowest instincts instead of a person, something terrifying indeed. The inventor quickly went to get her from under her arms and drag him away from Brent, who was barely conscious and probably with his nose possibly broken... he didn't say anything anymore...

"You're not a human..."

"You're a fucking idiot!" She roared again furiously out of her temples, with her mind probably lost somewhere letting her indignation and rage speak instead, "I told you to leave us alone but no! Of course you had to keep going with this, right?!" The tears were streaming down her eyes uncontrollably, about to get back and keep punching his face so hard until he couldn't do anything anymore, but being held by her friend to hold that back, "Your parents would be so fucking disappointed of you..." She hissed that with all the possible venom in her voice, showing up her complete rage and disgust, that mention made him look at her surprised, "Because they're too good and sweet to have such kind of fucking human waste as a son..."

Without being able to keep it anymore, she took her friend's arm and dragged him away, being careful from not doing any more harm on him... it was almost noon and they were all wasted already – emotionally talking I mean. While she kept his glance up in her way, Flint couldn't avoid look back for a moment, seeing Brent starting to cry on the floor as Henry went to check on him and help him to get up, seeing, too, how he refused to it...

And he was still scared though...

It took a while before they reached back the laboratory, with her sitting him on his bed and taking off his lab coat, placing it somewhere safe ready to check on his wound again, but he couldn't think straight... when she was going to place her hands on him, he quickly rejected them with a slap, surprising and scaring her for his act and making Steve hide feeling strong, negative emotions filling the air... all she saw in his eyes was fear...

"Don't fucking touch me!" He shouted out of his mind, too. All the ups and lows of the day made him already unstable summed up with the lack of blood; it was still a surprise that he was awake, "Why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Flint I just..." She tried to say, gulping and tearing up again.

"Just what?! Eh?! Tell me!" He was completely out of his mind, making her step back in fear as the tears were just falling down her face, "You're a fucking monster! That's what you are!" With those words he got some realizations... "You're not even human..."

"I-I was going to–"

"Of course!" He said like a madman, she was scared as hell, "That makes sense! Why you ended up in the middle of the ocean out of sudden, why you don't wanna talk about your life, why you can hear fucking ghosts! Why you brought a fucking sword with you! It makes sense why you fucking have so much strength! Because you're a fucking alien! Aren't you?!" She opened her mouth to say something, but he didn't let her speak, "Why are you here?! Are your race planning on taking over the planet?! Are you planning to abduct me?! Tell me! Why should I keep trusting you if all you have done is lying to me?!"

His hand went towards his nightstand, and then the sound of a broken glass was heard... that was the thing that made him snap and look down, seeing the crystal heart she gave to him shattered on the floor... just that was the thing that actually made him realize he just commited a huge mistake by screaming at her after saving him from them, but it was too late. See her gift broken on the floor made her pass from a face of fear to one of rage once again... he tried to apologize, but she snapped at him.

"I fucking hate you!" She shouted angrily, "You're a fucking idiot! And yes, I am not entirely human, but all I've been doing all this time is run away from _them_! I'm not like _them _and all I want is some peace! Understand?!" She was completely out of her mind too now, and incredibly mad at his reaction, "I can't believe I actually trusted you!" Those words were worse than all the wounds his body could receive, "I knew it was a mistake...!"

She turned around and went to the window, opening the metallic curtain of it to jump down to the sides of the building as Flint tried to reach her and Steve following from behind too, then he tried to get her back by going down through his elevator, she just walked furiously to the inside heading to the front, door, hearing a soft grumble of a thunder in the distance... fuck. She called out her name in an attempt of trying to talk to her and clarify some things, but she didn't listen at all, pretending to not hear it. His monkey quickly got to her shoulders, she didn't only placed a hand upon his head and placed him down gently, reaching the front door and opening it, slamming the door right on his face. Not losing time he opened it and ran towards her, grabbing her wrist in order to force her to listen.

It didn't work.

Instead, she did quite the same of what he did before, shaking his hand away and looking straight to his eyes with rage, screaming to him to not touch her and leave her alone... he felt this invisible force coming from her pushing him backwards, but not violently, it was like a strong wind that made him slide his feet on the pavement... of course that dragged other people's attention, to see how the new girl and the freak of the town were having a strong argument...

And finally, after yelling him hurtful stuff, she ran away as fast as her legs could towards the forest, sobbing in silence with the tears covering her vision. Earl, Regina and Cal saw her, her friend tried to stop her, but she didn't do it, just wanting to escape from there...

He felt the stares of everyone upon him, he didn't care, only seeing her running away until she was lost from view. One raindrop, then two, seven, many started to fall as another soft grumble of a thunder passing by was heard in the distance, to then find himself alone in the rain, with his tears in disguise with the water falling from the sky... he heard Steve calling him an idiot for it, and he agreed...

Then there was just this small, only one thing that crossed his mind...

"What have I done...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): From episode five of the CWACOM series called "Who You Calling Garbage?"


	6. Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest and say I completely forgot I uploaded this story here, I'm sorry for taking so long to update.
> 
> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_And I never meant to cause you trouble...  
_ _And I never meant to do you wrong...  
_ _And if I ever caused you trouble...  
_ _Oh no, I never meant to do you harm..._

_Trouble - Coldplay_

* * *

He stood up under the rain for ten minutes before his father arrived for lunch and saw him staring to nowhere at all, getting worried for his injured and exposed arm and trying to talk to him about what happened, why he looked so shocked, he didn't get an answer in any moment, at least not until he asked about Alice, receiving a sniff and a hug from him to then start to sob out loud... Tim took him inside and got a towel to dry him up like when he was just a child, first cleaning up his hair and then covering him with it, to then take care of his wound... "Son? What happened? You look as if you were swimming away from sharks!"

"I-I was an idiot...!" He said sobbing, "A-Alice I-I... I'm so sorry...!" He barely found a way to make words have sense and give an answer, being completely messed up for what happened. He felt just... too guilty for having being so harsh at her, "I yelled at her so many things a-and... sh-she ran away...!" His father tried to calm him down as he seemed to become unable to actually breathe, getting into an attack once again, "I didn't mean to hurt her feelings...! I-I wasn't thinking straight..."

His father told him to calm down and breath, trying to ease him as much as possible at the same time he took care of the open wound of his son; a few minutes later that became possible as he looked down, feeling dizzy for the entire jolly ride of the day and the loss of blood that haven't killed him yet, "Tell me, what actually happened?"

His son just explained the entire thing without hiding a lot of details, how far everything went and how Alice saved him, despite his despair and stuff he hid some things that would've just made him more worried, but overall, why she left... "She saved me from them and I was a jerk to her..." It was so weird to open up about his feelings towards his father, he couldn't avoid it anymore either, he had to let it out... "I feel so stupid..." And it was the truth, besides he wasn't entirely thinking when he said all of those things to her. Yes, he was conscious but at the same time he wasn't... "I'm so sorry..."

"Flint I..." He tried to say, "When you... well, in a storm if... if your boat swings and... you're alone you–"

"I understand, dad..." Actually, he didn't, as usual, "I'm a horrible friend..." Without saying anything else he just stood up and went outside, it was still raining, he didn't care again, opening the sliding door he stopped for a moment to look back. His father tried to say something again, but he didn't, Flint just left under the soft rain again upstairs, feeling so... weak... "I'm so stupid..."

He closed the door of the elevator and sat down letting tears stream down his face as he whooshed up at top speed, once out he slowly walked through the pink hallway to the inside of his lab, first seeing Steve looking at him and then look away, hiding somewhere around so he wouldn't see his owner. Maybe he was a monkey, but he wasn't that stupid either, understanding everything that's been going on. The scientist understood his point, though.

It hurts a lot, yet it was what it was.

And what it was... is shit.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling right about to pass out, hunger and blood loss were a horrible combination and twice as worse after having wasted all his energies running away from his life... he still thought that the mayor paid them to torture him like that while he wasn't in the town because it never went that far either, and it was the only explanation he found for their amazingly reckless behavior. No one else hated him _**that**_ much than him, that was completely for sure, if he didn't disappear yet was because he was waiting for the right moment to make him disappear... why? All because of... he covered his face to groan a long and loud cursing word at the same time his mood was going lower and lower and his energies were reaching a limit.

The room was spinning because of his dizzy head, he needed not just something to eat and produce some red cells before going into anemia (if it didn't happen already) and then die on his bed for a while, he wasn't going to be able to keep himself awake any longer, it was just matter of minutes or even seconds before he fell down unconscious in his lab, alone...

Alone again...

No! It wasn't the right moment for another breakdown! He had to keep up and take care of himself for a while before start a search for Alice – wherever she was, he wanted to apologize badly, and it didn't matter if she would push him away over and over again because of his stupidity... there he advanced a bit more, his stained coat hanging upon his rooking chair neatly, and next to his bed...

Literally, a broken crystal heart.

'If you need to talk, you can talk to me.' He told her the first night after she woke up. It made him want to hit his forehead against the wall all over again for being a damn idiot. She wanted to tell him the truth! When she told him to forget about what she said and how she needed to tell him something but how she wasn't feeling ready! And then she was going to explain her story but he didn't let her. The thoughts made him swear out loud once again out of anger...

Messed up and going worsening...

He wanted to rip off his heart and put it in a jar, just stop feeling like that and go back to how everything was before she came... but at the same time that was already impossible. He was still a human, they all make mistakes, he liked it or not.

Slowly and wobbling to the sides a bit he walked towards the smithereens of the crystal heart, falling on his knees and taking the remainings with his own heart about to jump out his mouth... his arms were trembling, at the same time he got the remaining, it shattered more than it already was, making him sniff and sob again... He felt, dumb, he felt stupid, he felt like the biggest asshole in the world at that moment even if he probably wasn't – he didn't even mean it! He didn't think, he was completely swallowed by fear when everything happened and– and...

"Everything I touch just gets ruined..." He didn't mean it for God's sake, he completely regretted so much for yelling at her like that! But it was too late as well, and he couldn't think straight yet, he was too stressed to do something coherent, "I'm such a dick... I'm so sorry..." He mumbled, shaking and leaning against his bed feeling tired. Slowly he forced his legs to stand up and turn around to his desktop, slowly placing down the broken heart upon it... his head spinned once again as he almost fell backwards, "I'm sorry..."

He had an idea, which was compose the heart as a way to show her how serious he was being with his apologize... his mind then just told him, "_You need to rest for now..._" He shook it, he didn't want to, but his eyelids felt so heavy and the room was still spinning even if he wasn't moving now, only staring closely to the shattered bunch of glasses upon it... "_Just go back to your bed, and it'll be alright_," His head said again, like an automate he walked back to his bed, not saying a thing, unable to think, to then flop down upon his belly, resting his head on his pillow... "_You'll be able to think properly later..._"

At the moment he closed his eyes, everything went straight black.

_ **Six hours later...** _

The sound of a thunder passing by was the first thing that came up to his ears in the moment he regained consciousness, he felt, again, very dizzy, unable to move an inch, probably with low pulse and other symptoms due blood lose and hunger. In a beginning he was confused, he didn't remember right the previous events before he passed – actually he thought about it more as a crazy and horrible nightmare... but if we're honest, he knew it wasn't.

He turned around upon his back and stared blankly to the infinite-like ceiling, just pondering about the last events once again... as much he wanted to go back to his previous self, the one that didn't care that much about people coming and leaving because it was something that used to happen a lot to him – well, kind of, of course. The ones who arrived were for too short, almost nothing, then they were gone by their own or because some external reason that wasn't himself, he used to feel bad for some days about it, then, he was back to be alright... kind of.

Nothing was alright now. He was a softy, almost always to be more honest, it wasn't like he was always alone and lacked of interaction with people. He did interact but in a very limited way, usually not going farther than a "hello" or whatever he needed, when someone arrives (which was incredibly rare) is where things used to change; still he used to be a bit retracted from interaction when it wasn't something he liked, but starting to release himself when it somehow came to that part...

Only one person showed up interest in his stuff after his mom and before Alice...

He turned to a side with tears streaming down his face, feeling his energies still drained from his body as he made an attempt to sit down, his arms felt wobbly like jelly and his body heavy, but somehow he managed to do it and sit on the verge of the bed, with shoulders low and his head looking to the metallic floor.

He felt...

Depressed...

It was the thing he hate from not being friendly – or someone who lacked a lot from social interaction, it was different handle the frustration of a failed invention from an _actual_ relationship with another human being (the one with his father, for example, sometimes it was really frustrating, not only because Tim didn't understand him, because _he _didn't know nor understand how to approach to him either even if he knew what he liked – which weren't a lot of things either). It wasn't that hard to understand the way human behavior worked like, the problem was how dumb he was at the time to apply the theory of relations to practice... it was easier to remain lonely because of that...

Then his world is flipped upside down once again with the arrival of a little, shy alien girl (it was the only way he had to explain the many incognitos surrounding her like her healing ability or how she even had the chance to find him and apparently, by the way she snapped, he was right) who showed interest in him, cared about him genuinely and even risked her own integrity for him! Ah, once again the rage started to take over as he couldn't stop thinking about it, just hear her asking them to leave him alone and take his place in their teasing... no one in their right mind would've done that, that was for sure in his opinion, no one was that crazy and even less with whatever Henry and Alex had planned to do – this time Brent was out of discussion.

Maybe if she was a boy they'd probably done it, or maybe not, they weren't that heartless either to tease a kid in the way they would do to him... still he thought the mayor had something to do with the affair before, something involving a good bribe for a good 'teasing'.

Groaning out loud he slowly stood up, the world started to spin again as he felt very dizzy, once again wobbling to the sides a bit. For a moment he thought that unconsciousness would fall upon him again and make him flop onto his bed for another set of long hours trapped in the dark dream world, surprisingly enough, despite his tiredness, it didn't happen; remaining standing for a while...

Another grumble of a thunder passed by, as the sound of the heavy raindrops were clanking against the metallic ceiling of his laboratory. The rain has increased its rate while he was out indeed, having escalated to the point of a light storm and it could still go worse... slowly his body started to move towards his desktop, sitting on his rooking chair and starting to try to put all the pieces of the heart together, neglecting his health, his mental stability and everything related to his safety in order to fix the broken heart...

_ ***crack!*** _

_ **I can't believe I actually trusted you!** _

Only Steve could feel and witness the growing tension in the entire dome-like laboratory, the previous amount of tension created by the argument he had with Alice a few hours ago already wore off – not _entirely _of course, it was just getting refilled with the same, stressing sensation that made Steve peek at his owner for a moment with curious eyes, still quite angry for his behavior towards the girl, yet less than before, still keeping distance from him though.

The other thing to fill the ambient were the constant loud rambles from the stressed inventor, who spent around an hour and a half trying to put all the pieces together with glue non-stopping... it was hard to keep himself together, to keep his hands quiet from shaking due the anxiety rushing through his veins... it was hateful, it was horrible, he couldn't keep himself together and it really kept stressing him so much...

The thought of all the stupid things he said...

And finally he was done... it... well... it took a very good while indeed, but he kinda managed to fix it... he held it between his hands once again, shaking terribly and with the things he said roaming his head... "Come on... put yourself together Lockwood...!" He yelped, swallowing hard as his eyes didn't drift away from the heart. It was becoming worse... could he now go out and seek out for her forgiveness after that? Maybe...

_ **I fucking hate you! You're a fucking idiot!** _

The sound of broken glass was heard again as he accidentally dropped it back on the desktop, breaking back into pieces... was he actually that sensible? Really? "She won't forgive me... will she...?" He wondered as the tears were still uncontrollably falling down his cheeks, his arms fell to his sides heavily, he couldn't take it anymore, it was too much for him to handle. It was so different to commit mistakes in science compared to make mistakes with another human being, because both sides were always hurt in the process. "It was a mistake to befriend me then... you wanted to avoid this pain... this is why you asked me to not get attached to you..."

Because she was really afraid of his thoughts about her real provenance...

She wanted to tell him the truth about everything but he didn't give her a chance, and the worse part is that he hurt her feelings without wanting to do that. He grew attached to her, too, and that was the toughest part of all... he was lost, he didn't know what to do anymore, it felt like an overwhelming situation... he never meant to cause her trouble, neither never meant to do her wrong...

Without saying a word he stood up, taking his stained coat and going downstairs under the rain; the backyard was filled with water, he didn't bring an umbrella, he didn't give a shit anymore. Crossing the house, completely ignoring his father's questions about where he was going, he got out to the front side and started to walk down the street towards the docks and go down the lane towards his favorite hiding spot from whenever he needed to ponder about life... he didn't care about the lightnings, neither how the rain heavily fell upon him, he didn't care a shit about the world anymore either, he was... lost...? Yeah, maybe that was the right word.

The sea clashed furiously against the shore as he walked by, the wind was cold and the tides were probably high due the long, non-stopping rainy day they were having; it was a good way though to hide his tears and clean up his stained coat a bit. On his way down he reminded the day he went back to his home crying and sobbing after he got his irremovable Spray-on Shoes around his feet and how he made a complete fool of himself in front of his third-grade class, when Brent pointed out about how he would take them off... come on! H w in the world he didn't think about it?! On the bright side, it would wear off by itself after some time (1), so he wasn't entirely doomed to wear it for the rest of his life...

"_**My beautiful little inventor,**_" Her sweet voice filled his ears, speaking to him from the back of his mind, "_**Let this lab coat be a reminder of my never-ending support and love for you**_," He could feel her hand caressing his face in that moment, despite the cold, his cheek felt warm, "_**Let it be a source of validation that inspires you to create amazing things, to make this world a better place. So, as long as you wear it, you'll always have a bit of me with you... **_(2)" The sensation then wore off, as he whimpered softly, unable to think what would've his mother said if she was still alive...

There he felt unable to walk any more, sitting down upon a bench and still not caring a flying fuck about the weather. A lightning could strike him in that right moment and he wouldn't even give a care, besides, no one would care anyways, right? It was still better if the outcast died or disappeared... right...? His mind flew away as it made a throwback to the last days and the many upside downs he was already having in such a short amount of time, it stressed him out too much, even much more than other times and it was completely outraging...

He wanted to scream so badly to nowhere and swear to God for letting a rush of blood to the head cloud his mind and yell stuff he didn't mean about, having using his slight knowledge about her against her, hurting her feelings and making his only friend in years run away... he should stop giving so many loops to the affair though...

It took a while, but then he realized that suddenly rain stopped falling upon his body, realizing that someone was covering him with an umbrella... he turned to a side, and saw an old man that was in his 70's holding a white umbrella upon him, what kind of called his attention for a reason were the white details in his clothes, seeming completely formal... weird, "What's doing a young man under the rain like this?" He asked, his accent was telling that he was from somewhere in Latin America and definitely not from the island, he'd never seen him in his life, "Can I sit with you?" He asked, the young inventor seemed to think about it for a moment and then give the man some space to sit, both of then now under the safety of the umbrella, "Now, why don't you tell me what are you doing here? You seem really upset for something... sometimes is good to pour down your feelings with strangers, you know?"

There was hesitation for a while, a silence broken by the rain and another grumble from a thunder, "I was a dick to a friend..." He said hoarse, swallowing hard, "I said things I didn't mean to say... because I wasn't feeling... right..." Pour down his feelings about everything felt like a stress reliever, explain what happened earlier and why he reacted so harsh to her to give better context to the situation, explain some things were starting to make his chest feel a bit lighter, "And that's what happened... now she hates me..."

"But you didn't know about any of it, right?" The man asked, he shook his head in response, "I see..." There was a pause for a moment, the rain seemed to start to decrease in its intensity, "She doesn't hates you," He finally said, "Yes, she maybe got angry when you yelled at her, but that's how friendship works: friends can be close people, they can share everything, but as any human being, they also have their upside downs and you have to learn to cope about it... she might be angry now, and if she ran away is because of her pride. We say things we don't really mean to, and it's alright, too, because we're all just human, understand?" He was kind of getting a grasp from the speech of the old man, for moments he couldn't understand, in others he managed, somehow to do it, "I'm sure you'll be able to solve this, kid; it's time for you two to learn about it and how it works."

"Maybe it is..." He mumbled quietly, looking down to a puddle under his feet and his reflex, "Maybe I just became afraid of repeating the same darn story once again... and unconsciously tried to push her away so I wouldn't have to see her leaving me and lesser the pain of it but... all I did was worsen it..." He was just trying to defend himself somehow, defend his feelings and his mental stability somehow, "But... I guess... I can't keep doing this forever... right...?" The man shook his head with a patient smile, "I've been alone for so long... I normally don't care... but sometimes I wish I wasn't alone... and had someone with me... because it feels... good..." It was interesting how a few trails of kindness could make a big change of mind and heart to someone, that's why he became attached to her in some way even if they had a few days of knowing each other, "I do love her so much... and I don't want her to leave me alone..." Was he being... selfish with those thoughts? "I have to talk to her... even if she doesn't wants to... there is still something important I need her to know... and I couldn't tell her because I was... afraid..."

"I see a life that was marked with death..." He couldn't avoid giving a glance to the old man when he said that, because, it was true, "You saw important people leave this world without being able to do something to prevent that... right?" He just looked away as he made a grimace, whimpering softly and covering his face with his hands, sniffing hard trying to not break down into tears, he avoided talk about his mom this time, and also avoid to talk about Mar and how he was involved in her death, "I understand your fears, then... but you also have to open up a bit to people who comes..." He patted his back for a moment, "This being human is a guest house, every morning a new arrival: a joy, a depression, a meanness; some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome, and entertain them all, be grateful for whoever comes; because each has been sent as a guide from beyond (3)."

That was a deep speech, indeed; but it actually, somehow made sense... there he finally cracked a smile with the tears streaming down his face, like having found the calm in the storm as he felt determination. Indeed he needed some wisdom, and maybe that's what his dad tried to tell him with a fishing metaphor... sighing deeply he thanked the man for his time as he ran away under the rain, to then come back. "I'm sorry sir, uh... what's your name...?"

"You can just call me John, Flint," He said, wait a second, how did he know his name? "If you can excuse me, I gotta leave, I don't have much time left now..." He said and stood up, starting to walk away, "Also, tell Alicia that I said hello." There he left, the inventor had so many questions in that moment that he wanted to ask but he didn't know how, besides he still had something else to do which was find his friend.

There he ran back to his lab, when Tim just asked by calling out his name he just said, "Sorry dad I'm in a rush!" to storm upstairs again, God he expected this time to not get struck by a lightning because he went to look for Alice's sword, once there he took it and attached it to his back and jeez he felt powerful again! Was it a actual magical sword and she was a magical girl with a magical weapon? Nah, that was even crazier than the possibility of having lived with an alien, then he rushed downstairs again with a, "Bye dad!" like a thunder.

Now he was back outside... where to go?

Well she left to the grasslands, right? Then he should get himself there...! Wherever she was because even if the island wasn't _that_ big, it still would take a while to find her alone... "Meatballs..." He still had to think better in his plans instead of only following his emotions once in his entire life, right? He groaned hard at that, "Alright she couldn't have gone that far either..." He said, "Come on Lockwood, think!" Well he could build something like a helicopter to clean up the island easier, then... what if she already left the island? No, she had to be around. He didn't know why but...

He heard then something zooming (?) in the sky, it wasn't an airplane but rather like a jet? Then he saw the sky opening in the middle of the downtown in a perfect circle letting the sun peek in from the distance as the sound of something having crashed was heard. With the curiosity filling his senses (just like the first time he met her) he ran towards the... landing zone as fast as he could, everyone got out from their houses too to go and check whatever arrived. The first to arrive already was the police, blocking the open streets as they were apparently pointing towards something/someone, he managed to make himself a place as he saw something he'd never thought to see in his entire life.

There was a man standing in the middle of the street, with a deep, messy and quite long jet black hair similar to his but covering his ears, pale skin, a normal physical complexion, using what looked like a leather jacket, black pants and combat boots and this big, long and thick_ zanbat__ō_ (4) sword upon his back that was almost his same height; his hands were in his pockets. As he was giving his back from the point where the inventor was standing, all he could see were those details and the fact that he was taller, around 6ft and 2in, and the traits that really called out his attention were a strange tail that looked like a cat's or even a panther's also, the cat ears upon his head... wait a second, was he actually a...

"Oh, you all shouldn't have bothered in coming to greet me!" The man said with a deep voice, taking out his hands he saw him wearing combat gloves to match up the outfit he was wearing, then he turned around towards his direction, showing up a couple of bright yellow eyes and a snub nose that quite made him resemble more to an actual animal, and his set of teeth: white, with sharp upper fangs, "Anyways, now I have your attention, my name is Maximus Panther, and I came up looking for someone..." He gulped and stepped back in response, yet he tried to keep his composure, "A small little brat with brown curly hair," Oh no, it had to be a casualty, "Brown eyes, around this size," He showed the size with his hand at the height of his waist, which was around the size of the belly of the inventor, "Pale skin, the last time I've seen her she was using a dark blue t-shirt with pants and her clothes were already tattered," He was looking for her, "Carrying a sword in her back," Fuck, no! "Just like the one that the boy over there is carrying right now..."

His heart skipped a beat out of the surprise when he got addressed by the alien, even more when he pointed him out and got the surprised glares from everyone, and squared to see him walking towards his direction, "Wh-what...?" He asked with a trembling voice, feeling his body heavy now it wasn't raining around anymore, the aura coming from the now known as Maximus was a heavy one, like telling him that he was going to die if he wasn't careful enough as he should.

"Where did you get that sword?" He asked in a growling-like manner, getting closer and closer as he looked straight to his blue eyes.

"I-I fo-found it b-by the oc-ocean..." He stuttered caught by the fear of facing such kind of beast, "W-why...?" Something told him that the man already knew he was lying.

Then the stranger was suddenly in front of him, feeling a grip around his neck as his feet stopped touching the ground, thrashing the air becoming more and more scared for the situation, at the same time, again, the group of people stepped back from them afraid, "One more time: I am looking for a girl, where the fucking hell is she?" His yellow eyes now got this glint of madness that made him get shivers down his spine, "I know you know who I'm talking about! You're hiding her!" The grip tightened as breathing was becoming harder, then he groaned, "Whatever, I'll just do... this!"

With the superhuman strength the invader had, he got tossed high into the sky, his body spinned several times until he found stability, finding himself upon the town... wait how high he actually was? Well, the view was wonderful, that's for sure; everyone looked like tiny ants and then disappear from view as his way up kept going, with the wind behind his back... then something shiny went towards his direction, it looked like... a plasma ball? No, was it... an energy ball? His first instinct was cross his arms to protect himself, hiding his face behind them even if he knew it'd be futile and a stupidity, like knowing that the intention was have him dead.

It couldn't end like that... right?

It couldn't... it just couldn't...

He heard grip from his back at the same time there was a explosion, uncovering his face he saw that he was flying down as something – someone seemed to be carrying down to a safer place, making him land on a street. He turned around to meet the person even if he already knew who it was, there was a knot in his throat he wanted to swallow so much and say so many things, but he couldn't; he saw a girl with blond, spiked up hair floating a few inches from the ground, getting to his height and staring with cold blue eyes, the thing added to her appearance was what looked like a light brown-kinda blond-ish monkey tail hanging from her back...

She looked so different now... before he could say a single word, she extended her arm to him like asking him to give her something, he didn't understand at first, even less with the cold stare she was giving to him, to then understand she was asking for the sword. In a sudden movement she tackled him away from where they were, as his view was upon her shoulder, he saw how the buildings were they were hiding exploded as a shadow emerged from the dust: she just avoided another attack from the panther man... it was still way too crazy to actually understand what was even happening, but all he saw and understood is that the panther man looked at them with a very wide smile with his sharp-like teeth. There he landed by placing a foot at his side, sliding a bit as he looked at them...

"My, my... you really made a good job hiding this time!" He exclaimed in a mocking-like tone, "It just looks... huh... much less than something I'd expect from you, princess," Wait, what? "This place indeed is pity, I suppose you remained here because of that..."

There was no response from her, who was just floating in front of Flint in a protective way, he could feel the tension between the girl and the man, he even swore he could hear the sound of soft growling coming from Max, which was already a new thing to add to the list of scary things; slowly he had the intention to remove the belt of the scabbard of the sword hanging behind his back, completely trying to not freeze in his place and be a complete burden for her during the fight that was coming up. At the same time, it was hard to _not_ freeze with the scary and overwhelming situation.

"Run..." He heard her saying without turning around to him, then extend her hand from behind asking for her sword again, "Now." She sounded so cold, then she turned around to him and looked straight to his eyes with anger, he quickly took off the sword and gave it to her, "Now run!"

His heart sunk for a moment, but without hesitating he turned around and fled the place as fast as he could. With the adrenaline rushing his veins he could compensate his lack of energy because of the stupid jolly ride from earlier, then... _BROOOOOOOM_, the earth quaked making him stop and fall... that wasn't a normal earthquake, everything shook again forcing him to remain low, wondering what was happening...

No, it couldn't actually be... they had to be ridiculously strong to make the earth shake like that, they maybe were aliens but– "What the–?!" He couldn't end the sentence as this great shockwave-like explosion made him fly backwards and destroying nearby buildings... it felt like two titans were clashing against each other, even more, when the view cleared and made him see that the pair of fighters were clashing fists... how damn powerful were actually they? Actually, he thought that the entire scene was taken out of those japanese cartoons – anime things...

The earth shook once again as the two fighters started to clash punches and fists one by one, first slowly, then they started to go fast as the tension released became louder and stronger at the point the planet itself couldn't handle, this big crater that formed under the weight of their power was becoming deeper and deeper like trying to run away from all the power released from them, at that point the inventor became unable to move, completely lost looking towards the alien fighters. They started to go faster, so fast at the point he became unable to follow their movements, to then disappear from their spot...

Amazing...

He looked up trying to find them again, the sky was clear, the storm clouds were around the town but not above, for now it felt like the peace came back, as if they teleported away to somewhere else... before he could sigh in relief as he thought the battle was taken away, he heard explosion-like sounds in the air, but he couldn't see them. And he didn't hear it just once but many at the same time surfing the air: one moment it was behind, then above his head, left, right, everywhere... his head was taking a long while to understand what was going on, to then fall in the realization of two beings moving faster than he could see...

Everything was absolutely beyond his comprehension... or maybe it was still too crazy to process and understand propperly. But at that step they'd destroy the island...

Well on the bright side maybe, it wouldn't be his fault... right? Oh well that wasn't the point there.

At the same time the fight was going on somewhere else in the air, the people of the island were running to what uses to be the shelters in case of natural disasters – mostly the strong storms in some ocassions... or at least, kind of what it should be: the place was big enough for them, yet, it wasn't as safe as it should due some lack of mantainance. Unknowingly for them, the same person they despised the most (with the surname Lockwood) was the one who used to take care of the place annonimously by fixing some major issues (some things were easier for him than others in his defense) and making the place, ironically safe enough to handle something like earthquakes.

Tim Lockwood was already there, looking out for his son in the sea of faces to then realize he was still out there, he found pretty much everyone already, but he was the only one missing... another quake made them get down for a moment, being a very strong one this time, unknowingly to them that meant the two titans were fighting near, yet at least they went away for the moment. So many people inside yet where was his son?

And among the many people inside there, he spotted two unwanted faces: one from called Henry and the other called Alex, both of them showing some bandages in some parts; the first one had a neck-thing holding his jaw showing that he got it broken, his nose had a gauze as well as if something hard made its thing; his friend also had a broken nose and a bandage around his left arm, almost at the size of the wound of his son. If he didn't know that the one of Flint in the same place was made accidentally in his own lab he'd lost it against them after everything that's been happening during the first second quarter of the day. As much as he could tell they didn't realize his presence, and that was enough for him to get close and do his famous Lockwood stare.

It was kinda late when they realized, turning slowly towards him when they felt their lives being threatened – something like that... of course he was angry, when they finally repaired in his presence, the one who didn't had his head restrained yelped out loud and hugged his friend, both looking at him nervously, "M-mister Lockwood!" Alex exclamed close to wet his pants out of surprise, "H-how's your–" He didn't have the chance of ending the sentence as the adult snapped.

"Don't you even dare to ask what you know, Lancaster!" He exclaimed angrily calling out the attention of all the others around, "What in the entire Earth were you two thinking when you stalked my son like sharks?!" An awkward relationship didn't mean he didn't care about him, it was exactly the opposite: he cared deeply about him, he just didn't know how to approach, and this was a thing he wouldn't stand due the severity of the event, "You two hear me right now, I won't tolerate this any longer! If I hear one more time about you doing something to my son, I won't hesitate not just having a long talk to your parents but taking care of you two myself!" Both teenagers were shaking, they never saw him raging like that, and probably he was being soft now, "Tell me what were you even doing, because you were going to involve a 10-years-old girl!" That was the other thing he wouldn't tolerate: the fact they almost dragged Alice in made him steam more as he considered her like a daughter too. He didn't add anything else asides of his raised eyebrow stare, which was way terrifying than looking at his eyebrows.

It was easy to tell how nervous they actually were, even more because the entire town had their attention upon them, they knew the fisherman wanted and needed an actual explanation for their reckless acts towards the inventor, but none of them seemed to going to reply feeling either fear of his reaction if they gave an actual answer or complete shame for their behavior, actually, Alex couldn't stop looking down as his friend couldn't because of the neck holder, he was too ashamed to say something about it, "Shelbourne paid them to do it..." Tim turned around when he heard the voice of Brent coming, with hands in his pockets also looking down, "I'm not excusing their behavior, Mr. Lockwood, but as usual if there's anyone there to blame about it's the mayor..." He didn't know what he asked them to do, but of course it went too far this time, he looked at his friends for a moment, seeing them still looking down in utter shame.

"I'll give you one single chance to redeem yourselves about this," Tim said covering his face with a serious tone, "Please, find my son and bring him back here..." It felt very ironic to hear him asking to retrieve the inventor after they royally fucked it up, but at the same time it was the way they had to redeem themselves from their stupidity – for all of them. The three looked to each other unsure about and even more knowing that even after they heard how the girl and her friend had a strong argument, she still could beat the heck out of them for earlier; then Alex and Brent nodded as their last friend wasn't in conditions to actually help.

Even if the two friends weren't sure about it, it was the least they could do now to not get their asses kicked for any reason, and besides if she knew about it, maybe she would forget about the affair that happened before; they were aware of how reckless they were, and now they had a chance to redeem themselves at least for a few weeks before going back to the same old ways... or maybe they wouldn't with the little yet brutal rottweiler he had around him... anyways, the reason in the end of why he asked them to do it, it was because they were fast enough to find him.

Without hesitating any longer the two friends got out the shelter just to see how half of the city turned down to mere shambles, leaving them speechless... "Do you think Lockwood's even alive?" It was hard to not make that question honestly, the entire town was there hiding minus the inventor and now both of them, so if he was alive or not was actually a good incognito. Funny enough he got a glance from his fat friend with the question, only to receive a nervous smile in response, "Yeah, I got it..."

How long's been since the fight started? The colossal fight happening between the two strong energies lasted a good while already, for some reason he's been having the feeling of them holding brand more only as a consideration of the town or even the planet itself. It was hard to tell due the many thrills rushing over, but he could say... an hour already? He actually expected the fight to reach an end before sunset for some reason, it could be like the end and epilogue of their war or something like that – kind of; the duo was still out of view due their supersonic speed, on a side way his head was trying to make calculations about the amount of power released and the approximation of their speed in-battle.

Then again in another side, he wondered how'd been if he allowed her to explain her backstory and show how it worked, if he didn't just yell at her... he was making contact with intelligent life from the outer space, if he just gave her a chance to explain everything he would've probably even gotten access to higher knowledge about the universe itself, so many questions in his head formed when the panther man showed up and he needed and wanted the answers... he shook his head trying to forget the sadness of his stupidity and focus back in their fight, to then feel the earth shaking terribly as he realized one of them hit the ground furiously, sliding and breaking the pavement until it ended raising up some dust.

He covered behind debris and looked to see who fell, then the earth quaked again as a large wall of dust was lifted up again for a few seconds, to then see the girl leaning her hands against her knees and panting heavily, while a few meters at the front there was the panther man cleaning his arms and hands from the dust, both of them with considerable injuries, but maybe in the worse shape possible was her... the inventor gulped softly. "You've became considerably stronger than the last time I've seen you, princess," He heard Max saying, "But you're still behind me so, your improvement is... nothing," So, he wasn't doing an actual effort then? Did that mean she was reaching a limit too? Oh no... no it couldn't be...

Out if sudden Flint saw her giving a backflip as another wall of dust raised up, realizing how the panther hammered the hard pavement with both arms wanting to smash her, looking at her with a wide feline grin and his yellow eyes with a glint of madness flickering there, even if their movements were fast he managed to see their hands going to the handles of their sword, to then see how the panther man raised up his gigantic sword. His heart dropped to the ground when he saw him lifting up such a heavy weapon, becoming amazingly worried for her and how maybe she wouldn't even be able to hold it back, being the only option dodging, but would she be able to do it?

The earth quaked slightly when the sword of the panther man lowered with fierce and power against her in a vertical slice, even more because the girl landed heavily making the inventor wonder if she was dead or not, only to see how she was defending herself by placing her sword up in horizontal position with all her strenght; the soil under her feet was cracking and giving in due the pressure against, and at that point she wouldn't be able to handle it any longer either. Growling and struggling she tried to fight back and pull him away, the other and harder option was move away...

"Come on you can do it..." He mumbled looking at the scene worriedly, "Pull him away... please..." A few tears were rolling down his cheeks as he cleaned them up, his fears were coming back and he was hating it so much, "I know you can do it just... do it..."

He looked closely and saw her moving the fingers of her left hand in a series of patterns, repeating the process once as she took a deep breath, in just a little moment the man jumped away with his gigantic weapon at the same time a big fireball came out from her mouth as a way to make him take distance, succeeding on it. The man was meters away from her now giving her a short break, sheathing back her sword and doing some signs with both hands, charging air in her lungs and letting out a series of fireballs fly towards her opponent. Flint was amazed...

The fireballs seemed like quick lights surfing the air, exploding once they hit some surface while the alien panther defended himself behind his sword or dodged – even both of them, attempting to get back towards the girl somehow, one way or another; raising up his weapon he swung it with such kind of force at the point an energy wave traveled towards her, managing to cut the front part of her shirt at the height of the stomach and giving her a light cut as she managed to barely avoid the attack. Suddenly a sharp pain crossed her face as she got a powerful blow on her left cheek, not stopping there he started a chain of combos as much the young inventor saw it, to then see how he was now upon her with both hands around her neck...

"You are still worthless trash, little princess!" He growled, "I thought you'd be better now but I think I was wrong, you'll never be better than me and you'll be finding your death here!" His grip around her neck tightened as she started to choke for air, "Why are you still alive and fighting me?! Don't you still have the answer?! You are just a pathetic who deserves to die!"

The inventor was losing it, shaking his head as the tears started to fall down his cheeks and anxiety started to take over again, the grip around her neck was firm and tight, and it didn't matter she tried to make him let go by grabbing his wrist, her forces were fading away already... he was seeing it from his place, at the same time he tried to remain shut, he wanted to go and help her but... it wouldn't be enough, "No..." He mumbled softly, "No... please... don't leave..." Something was at the top of his throat needing to get out, something powerful – a loud scream he needed to let out that came out after seeing her hands releasing the wrists of the panther man, "Alice please don't die!"

His voice felt like echoing across the entire town, and it was even heard by the townsfolk who all went silent to hear that. The heart of Tim felt like sinking deep down as that girl he considered his own daughter was in great danger, he didn't want to lose somebody under his care again, and he knew neither he nor his son would be able to handle another loss, even less the inventor with everything he's been through...

_ **Alice!** _

"Flint..." She silently mumbled, his screams were distant from her perspective, she could barely hear anything asides of him screaming her name, but another thing she heard...

"So he's your friend then... after you die then I'll kill him, because he's watching you dying now..."

Her conscience then started to come back as she then gave a fierce look to her enemy, to then decompose her face into pure anger... Amazingly enough she managed to push him away with a strong energy wave coming out from the palm of her hands making him slide backwards, once his hands were away from her neck she tried to recover her breath with big gulps, to then straighten up with utter pride as a golden aura surrounded her again, the only difference was that her hair spiked up a bit more, and some sky-blue electric sparks were detaching as well, "You ain't touching him bitch!" She roared out loud surprising the inventor, who started to tear up more in response...

Yes, he actually couldn't believe it. He just had in count her attitude at the beginning, the cold way she was behaving... but she actually considered him as a friend even if he was a dick to her earlier... he cleaned up his face as he tried to curve a smile. "Beat his arse Alice!" He shouted again, "I know you can do it!"

Separating her legs and with superhuman strenght she sprinted towards Maximus, even if Flint couldn't actually see what was going on due their speed, he knew she was actually beating mainly his face in response of his previous actions, the most he could see was a shiny golden light moving at full speed (still his calculations couldn't sort out how fast she was actually moving, but it was above the speed of sound).

The panther then found a way to cross his arms in front of his face to defend himself from a powerful blow that once it landed, whatever was behind became dust and made a large path of open earth, she launched another blow, harder than the last one that had the same result in a brand destructive way, the third one, finally was the one that broke his defense and sent him flying backwards straight towards the cannery, breaking down the outside wall and traveling all the way to the other side until there was an explosion from an unharmed yet old gas container.

It was the bell for a break...

"Alice!" She heard as her aura faded away and her hair remained the same, seeing how the inventor ran towards her worriedly, to then grab her face gently, "Oh my God..." She was so bruised: fractured nose, several bruises around her face, a swollen eye, cut lip and cheeks, an open wound on her forehead and a little trail down her nose, to not mention the marks of hands around her neck. "Alice I–"

"What are you doing here?!" She roared out loud, "You should be hiding somewhere safe now!" Her voice wasn't one of anger, actually it sounded distressed, like she was still worried or something.

"But why? You already won..." He said, she started to shake his head slowly.

The sound of a explosion was heard again as they looked towards the cannery again, seeing how the panther raised up to the sky with a wide as hell grin; Flint fell down on his butt as he couldn't look away from Maximus, thinking that he was already invencible even if he already show signs of tiredness... "I've been waiting so long to see you fighting like this!" He shouted, "Of course you are soft for a pity person like that boy, because both of you are pathetic as hell!" He raised up an arm at the height of his chest as a... well, humongous energy ball formed, and with big... around the size of a meteor, "Okay, now you're worthy to be killed!"

"Son of a bitch..." She mumbled, "Flint... leave... please make me a favor and leave this place right now..." One glance of her still blue eyes was enough to make him understand why even if he actually didn't want to. She was feeling him grabbing her arm tightly, using it to stand up but genuinly not wanting to let go, "It'll be okay..." He bit his lower lip unsure about believing her, frowning he just nodded.

"Al... please... be safe..." He sniffed a bit, "I'm begging it to you..."

She looked at him surprised, starting to tear up a bit, cleaning them with the other arm she nodded in response as released his grip and started to go away and she started to float up, but he stopped when he heard another explosion of energy; turning around he saw her trying to catch up more power, the earth started to shake and the sea started to go away from the shore in response, like trying to run away again from the big energy emanating from someone so small like her, then he saw her hair becoming longer at the size of her waist and more spiky, the electric sparks became more pronnunciated as well, revealing she was indeed releasing much more energy than before.

Quickly the girl went up extending her arms to the front at the same time Max launched his big energy ball with the intention of vanishing everything... then all just became white...

The inventor was unsure about what happened, if he lost his conscience for a brief moment or something else, when he opened up his eyes again he saw most part of the town down in shambles and he was covered with some debris, again unsure of what just happened... looking up he then searched up for Alice completely worried, of course starting to get rushed and anxious about the idea of losing her... he called out her name and coughed a bit, unable to find her around.

Then... the sound of something moving around, a few rocks or something, quickly he moved there and started to remove the debris, there he found her: back to normal with the dark brown hair and way more worn out than she already was, pretty much like the first time he found her back in the ocean, quickly he first removed her sword to wear it himself, then moved her trying to wake her up; she was motionless, apparently having wasted all her energy already... "Flint..." She mumbled almost silently.

"Alice...!" He hugged her and placed his chin upon her head, like trying to grip her soul from leaving her body, "What happened...?"

_BOOM! _The panther man landed a few metters away from them, the inventor hugged his friend more now feeling fear again, "How cute, she used all her might to save you all from my vanisher..."

"Flint..." She smiled at him even if he couldn't see it, a few tears started to fall down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry... I never meant to cause you trouble..." Again she closed her eyes with those words... she was defeated, tired, unable to keep going any longer and needing already a break...

"Alice..." He mumbled unable to look away from the man, "Please... don't die..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): Actually this was (sort of) hinted in the second movie, when Flint was renewing his Spray-on Shoes to get ready to go to his first day at Live Corp.
> 
> (2): This speech is the version of the series. I think it was both more sweet and heart-touching than the movie version.
> 
> (3): Kaleidoscope - Coldplay (I'm an effing fan it's already too obvious ayy)
> 
> (4) Zanbatō: An especially large, single-edged sword dating to the Heian period of historical Japan. The name zanbatō translates to "horse-slaying sword" or "horse-chopping saber".


	7. The face of the Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Relatively shorter chapter than the usual ones yay! Next one may be this short as well
> 
> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_There's nothing that I'd take back,_   
_But it's hard to say there's nothing I regret._   
_'Cause when I sing, you shout,_   
_I breathe out loud,_   
_You bleed, we crawl like animals,_   
_But when it's over, I'm still awake_

_Silhouettes - Of Monsters and Men_

* * *

The Lockwood gulped and hugged the unconscious body of his friend tight, his eyes showed a lot of fear to then lift her up and start to step back, gulping, shaking a bit... he needed to make her react again somehow, it couldn't end like it, right? That just couldn't be the way it was: the bad couldn't laugh at the end for obvious reasons and mostly because he didn't deserve it, but she was defeated now... it was that moment where they forcefully had to retreat, reach the shelter and get her a medic to check how bad it actually was.

He gulped when he saw the panther moving his tail side to side and crossing his arms, still showing a stupid evil grin on his face, a powerful killer instinct detaching from him, even with the knot in his throat he managed to frown a bit and speak, "You already earned what you wanted, Maximus! She's already down and my home's destroyed!" Honestly it felt worse to say it than it could sound, at least, at the very least, really deep down he was happy that he wasn't the one who destroyed everything with an invention, "Why don't you let her rest and leave us alone?!" She was a major priority now, and even with the most part of the town destroyed there was probably some things that could be saved, right?

He couldn't avoid hugging her more in a protective way, getting back slowly in order to run away as fast as he could – even if probably it'd be futile, the panther man was growling in a low tone still grinning widely with pure malice, to then start to laugh in a low voice that became louder, being a complete madman now and scaring him way more than he already was; he wondered now how many times they fought each other and how many times she's been so close from death; he knew that the last time was when he found her floating to the bottom of the ocean, and she would die at some point if they didn't stop... he didn't want that to happen again.

"Oh, you stupid, naïve boy! That's the thing if you didn't realize!" He laughed again passing a hand across his messy black hair, "You see, this girl and her family did something really, really bad around two decades ago which involves my family and my entire race so..." He looked straight to his blue eyes with torn pupils now, "She's gonna die for it."

Without hesitating any longer he turned around and ran away across the debris and fallen buildings, holding his little girl as tight as he could; he wouldn't let him kill her, he didn't want to see her dying either, he would save her even if it was at coast of his life... it was the least he could do now anyways for the girl who accepted him for who he was, and how even after what happened she seemed to having forgiven him... something told him that the game of the cat and mouse just started, and he was just waiting the perfect moment to go against them. He didn't want to look back and he probably wasn't going to, even if he could be already on his way... or maybe he wasn't turning around out of fear, he didn't know...

The inventor let out a loud yelp as his grip around the girl tightened, feeling his body flying to the front after feeling a powerful air wave from behind similar to one she made early right before she ran away. They flew a few meters to the front violently, he quickly wrapped his own body around hers to protect her from more damage and taking the fall, which of course did hurt, but due his years of having stuff exploding right in front of his face well... he was used to it. Sadly his injured arm didn't take it too well.

Yes, of course he felt the paint starting to come from there, slowly he got up and held her again between his arms, the girl was still unconscious, apparently having not suffered more damage than the ones she already took; ready to go, he felt again the man pushing them away with another powerful wave that sent them flying, apparently with the intention of separating them, and that's how they went a few more times until he got separated from her... it was easy to get filled with despair once again when you knew your friend (and an entire town) was under the mercy of a killing machine, almost instinctively he went back towards her, only to be repelled back as the panther was coming closer.

When the man arrived besides the young girl, he grabbed her from the back of the neck of her shirt and lifted her up at the same time her friend stopped quickly, looking scared, "Look at this little princess!" He said with a huge grin, "She's so petty, weak... pathetic, don't you think?" His free hand was getting closer to her left cheek, then he extended the index finger showing a claw-like nail that started to cut open her skin, making the inventor squeal in horror, "Yeah, just look how stupid and pathetic she is... doesn't crimson red suits her?" As much as he could see, the man then gave her a painful butting on the side of her head as her body flew a few meters away, she didn't even move.

"Stop it, please!" He squealed in horror, "Leave her alone, you've done enough to her!" The air started to lack in his lungs as anxiety started to come back, he felt helpless once again in his life and he completely despised that feeling, and his last statement, what did a little girl had to do with it? A sub-text told him that she didn't had anything to do there and it was a fight between adults where she got dragged in. "Just leave her alone! Whatever happened must've been done by the adults! Why are you blaming her so much for it...?!" Then he felt like something hit his head, like a realization, "You're not strong enough to face the real culprits of the banishment of your race..."

His words made him look at him now with anger, apparently having nailed right in the spot where it hurts. Then that's what it was... for a moment the man almost lost his composure, "Why the hell do you think so?" With the silent ambient of desolation he could hear annoyed growls from the panther man, "Or aren't you seeing what I'm able to do?"

"Of course I can... but that doesn't justifies your abuse towards a girl..." His tone was so serious, not just feeling anger but impotence with the entire situation, "You're just constantly beating her because you are not strong enough to fight whoever vanished your family and race! And I know I'm right because you two can completely destroy this planet if you wanted!" It was so unfair to see a young being paying for the broken plates in such a hideous way, it wasn't an extraordinary case either, but that just showed how universal some things could be, "You're no one but a fucking coward!"

Deep down the inventor knew he shouldn't have said that because it just added fire to the volcano, why? He saw him getting angrier with that, yet he tried to keep his composure even if he was actually losing it a lot. That was his honest opinion and his point of view, and he liked it or not at the same time it was pretty much the truth...

The way he looked at him was different now, with his yellow eyes glowing in pure anger now, his corporal expression seemed to show how he started to grow in size like a threatened cat, his black hair seemed to spike up as the growling sound became louder, making him realize that he _**totally**_ screwed it up _**and **_he was going to die sooner than he actually thought; it was even worse when the man got in four paws, realizing also his nails longer than before. The inventor only gulped and slowly started to walk backwards, whimpering softly, "You really seem to want to die... don't you...?" He asked growling and coming closer like an animal, he was too terrified to run away.

In the right moment he was going to attack there was an explosion to his sides, Flint turned around and saw Alice awake again, her thumb, index and middle fingers extended as a gun while her other hand was holding the lower part as if she was actually holding a real gun, she was shaking slowly showing how tired she was and how she was trying to keep it up, the panther man was going to move again making her start to shoot once again, "Flint, please leave!"

_ **Roar!** _

The panther man ran towards the girl extending his hands, regardless the endless shooting from her he launched his body towards her like an animal and attacked, pinning her down trying to scratch her face with his claws, the only reason he couldn't yet was because she was holding his wrists tight, to then get a kick on his chest that pushed him away... it didn't last long as he got back to her, leaving claw marks upon several parts of her skin and a powerful blow on her stomach that left her stunned and breathless for a while. The last thing she knew before losing her conscience again was about her body crossing the town and landing in a house...

On the other side, even if he didn't want to, Flint ran away as fast he his legs allowed him from the invader, just taking the chance she gave him, not the entire place was destroyed so he could catch his breath back somewhere behind a building and keep making his way to the shelters; he felt a tight knot in his throat when he saw the body of the little girl known as Alice crossing the town... a scream almost got out from his throat, but it didn't get out, it could've alerted him about his position...

Little he knew about a couple of presences behind him, coming closer and slowly without his realization, when he realized he felt a hand upon his shoulder and almost shouted, only to feel a hand covering his mouth against the fallen wall where he was hiding at; Brent and Alex were making him signs to not scream out loud, "Look, we know what we did early today," Alex said in a low voice, "But your father already shouted at us and sent us to find you. He's giving us a chance to redeem ourselves if we take you back and... we're sorry for it..." Slowly they released him as the bully sounded sincere, "We won't do it again..."

Too many reasons were present to actually trust their word, but right now there wasn't time to actually think about it so it was something he'd leave for later.

Of course he wanted to snap at them so hard because it was also in part their fault he and Alice argued early, yet he didn't, holding it hard and finding himself forced to do it... "Why should I even trust you two...?" He asked repressing the scream as much as he could, his breathing was becoming heavier, "Why should I actually have a reason to trust you two after everything you've done in my life...?" Despite the entire danger lurking around the place he just couldn't keep it inside, he was still completely mad at them, reasons to not trust them at all were many.

"Man we know you don't trust us, but this is not the right time to argue about this!" Brent hissed holding his shoulders tight, "Or we run or we die here...!"

They heard a loud roaring sound coming close, they wouldn't have time to get away from him that easily, and without saying anything else they ran away before getting caught by the panther man, "Also where the hell is your little girlfriend?!" Alex asked rushed, just realizing they weren't together once again without knowing about their argument before the rain; they didn't get a response from him asides of a hurt expression, "Lockwood?"

"The girl who was fighting him was her..." He said with weight in his voice, "She was defeated..." It was fun to say that the face they gave him was a stare of shock, "That man almost killed her and now..." It was their turn. They were next on the list if they didn't find a place to hide, they didn't have another choice than hiding behind a fallen building that belonged to the local TV store, needing to remain as low as they could both in their breathing, voice and any single movement knowing he could track them...

If it was night they could actually be inside a twisted horror movie and it had everything to actually be one: destroyed town, no electricity as the towers were down as well, and a beast-like alien chasing them with the complete intention of killing them. Well, in any case it was _almost _one without the first part. Taking a peek to their surroundings in the most careful way possible they looked for the panther man, but he was nowhere to be seen for a good while.

They didn't hear anything either, as if the sounds of the predator suddenly went silent... the three teenagers were taking care of each other's back to prevent any attack from behind, the previous roars and growls weren't heard anywhere, which of course was alarming, even more for the inventor, who thought that maybe he could be tracking the girl.

"This shit's actually way terrifying that it should..." Alex muttered, his voice felt like trembling slightly with fear as he kept trying to not lose it, "Where the fuck is he?!" Both Brent and Flint hushed him with some despair in their looks, but the worse part was hear a loud roar again coming close. Again, the latter gave a deathly stare to Alex, knowing they had to run away again, "My bad, I'm sorry."

"Shut up!" They exclaimed, the roaring became closer; they couldn't help but swearing a bit. Flint had an idea, taking a look he saw the man in the distance, but not looking at their direction but otherwise, quickly he gave a piece of debris to Brent and told him to toss it away knowing that maybe Max would follow the sound it made thinking it was them. Without hesitating he did what the inventor told him and tossed it away, as hard his arm could; they heard how it fell and made some noise, instantly calling out the attention of the rampaging beast towards that direction, which gave them a chance to get away slowly...

Without keeping their eyes away from the panther man they slowly walked away backwards, being amazingly careful where they stood to not drag their attention, the only thing they couldn't control was the sound their hearts were making against their chests, drumming hard and loud at the point their heads were in the same way. Annoying, of course it was, yet they couldn't help it, and apparently he wasn't hearing them... yet.

Fear, so much fear, it was far overwhelming than anyone would ever imagine. Their lives endangered...

"Oof!" Well, the cover-up worked less than they wanted as Brent fell down after stepping on a rock, hitting a few rocks. "Fuck..."

In that same moment, the panther man turned around towards their direction with a loud growl and a roar, making the three teenagers run again for their lives as fast as they could. Brent managed to get back up even with the big corporal weight he owned, and even managed to keep the pace of the other two teens, yet being the last one in the line.

The movements of the beast were flexible, quick, precise and fast, yet he looked as if he completely lost his mind due his beast-like constant behavior; in part the inventor blamed himself for the situation as he pretty much made him angry by facing the facts about what was left seen, like a subtext in a conversation but with actions instead.

Incredibly enough, they managed to avoid him all the way to the shelters even if they had their own close calls with some scratches and other stuff, tripping almost falling, trying to delay his reach, until after what felt like an ethernity they finally, _**finally **_reached that place... their eyes filled with tears, Tim was right there awaiting for them excited to see them and it was something that filled the young inventor with joy, having never felt _**that**_ happy to see him again... for a brief moment he felt he was going to lose conscience, having seen a brief pit of black before his eyes, yet a little rock he almost tripped with made him go back to reality.

It felt like a big call of his head screaming to focus without caring his few wounds he got from the air-pushing-thing from before and the lack of blood in his system due that cut of his arm, telling him to get some aid first, let the panther man get away and then get out again to look up for the unconscious Alice somewhere in the island.

The least he expected was seeing Maximus leaping in the air and landing right in front of them with a huge grin, as if he just recovered his composture and then get back in two feet. The mad gaze didn't disappear, the three of them had to brake with their heels and step back in fear, "My, my... I gotta say you made me lose it, kid..." He said staring at the young Lockwood, still growling softly, "My bad, I'll say. I allowed my emotions take over, anyways..."

Their back tensed horribly with the sensation of incoming death coming once again, this time right in front once again. Another thing he least expected was to both Alex and Brent in front of him with the intention of protect him even if it'd be futile for certain obvious reasons... the more the panther got close the more the three stepped back, knowing it'd be completely futile.

"Oh God..." Flint silently mumbled, "Alice... where are you...?

.

_ **Meanwhile...  
** _

Even though she couldn't feel her body, she could feel the cold ambient where she fell at, her eyelids were completely shut not wanting to open up. It didn't matter how much she demanded to open up, it was futile, feeling crushed and too tired to move... all she knew is that she was alive once again, miraculously of course.

In any case, she was used to all of that already.

Being trapped in her own body was awful, even more in the critical situation the island was in, her friend running away for his life while that stupid asshole was chasing him... she could feel them moving, he was with that idiot of Brent and the jerk of Alex, casually enough something deep inside told her that they were helping him, otherwise they wouldn't be running together.

There she felt some cold hands on her back that helped her to sit down, which also helped her to start to open her eyes slowly, squinting, a blurry vision that started to clear a little while after as her body got dragged upon something soft and bouncy and realize it was a couch; then her hands went to her face as she felt everything falling down to pieces...

"_**What happened to you...?**_" She recognized the female voice of Lucy McHale, realizing where she fell, "_**Are you okay...?**_" The girl shook her head, "_**What's going on outside?**_"

"It's all my fault... I brought disgrace to the island... and I cannot stop it..."

"_**Disgrace?**_" James McHale asked, "_**What kind of disgrace...?**_" She felt them sitting by her sides, and also how they seemed to look at her.

She didn't answer. Their cold hands were caressing her back softly, to then feel one of them wrapping arms around her making her start to break down and cry.

Despite being a fighter, that didn't take away the fact she was still a young girl... then the second presence joined too, making her cry louder and sob uncontrollably...

She was afraid... and all she wanted was just everything to end... but she didn't have any more energies for it... the thing her body and mind wanted the most was fall asleep and recover from the previous battle, nothing more nor less; actually there wasn't anything else she'd like, asides of maybe just cuddle and sink into Flint's warm presence… there she lifted her gaze with both eyes wide open…

"Flint…!" She whimpered, her body started to recover some energy due her deep concern, "I must… go back and…" An attempt to get up almost became into a fall that got stopped by the two invisible forces of the McHale couple, even more tears fell down her eyes as her body was sore, almost numb for all the effort made, "I need to save him…!"

The flashes of what happened earlier that day came to her mind, crying in silence of all the hurtful things he said to her, but then the previous days and the good memories with him plus his support during the fight became stronger than the argument, everything just came back… and slowly she started to walk towards the door even if there was this giant hole in the ceiling, feeling the stare of the two phantoms upon her back as it felt like they were wishing her luck for whatever could be coming back once again.

"_**We may don't know what's going on outside, but we're sure if you could survive a fall like that, you will be able to stop it...**_" James said, she could feel him smiling.

Her hand touched the rusty knob of the front door and turned it around…

It was always open…

"Also, sorry for breaking your ceiling..." She said smiling a bit, turning around to their direction even if they still were invisible to her eyes, "And the name's Alice by the way... (1)"

With that and hearing a couple of giggles, she closed the door and started to make her slow way to wherever her friend was, unable to fly anymore but with determination to reach there with her own legs...

.

_ **Back to the others...** _

And suddenly both Brent and Alex flew away, having received a painful blow in their necks that left them instantly unconscious but not dead, not being that his intention just yet. He was shaking, yes; scared to death, yes; about to wet his pants, definitely. Despite all of that, almost instinctively he unsheathed the sword of his friend, holding it tight and biting his lower lip nervously trying to recover his composure. The act also made Maximus let out a soft, deep and evil chuckle in an almost ironical way.

"Back off!" Flint exclaimed pointing at him, the sword was trembling softly as his grip tightened harder around the handle.

"Brave enough young man," He said, "But I don't think you'd–" He had to jump back a few meters when the inventor swung the blade down, entirely having not expected that.

Neither he avoided seeing certain similarity between the annoying girl and her friend in that right moment due the position he adopted, with legs separated in attack position as his back was bowing to the front, adopting a more confident corporal expression as the trembling seemed to stop. He didn't, only managed to canalize all the adrenaline and fear into one thing... "I said, back off..."

From behind, Tim was seeing the scene scared than ever, way afraid to lose his son with such kind of beast like him, and even beyond there because he wouldn't hesitate to fight. He was praying to God and his wife to not let anything happen to him as he was the only thing he got left...

At least, for the inventor, Max lost his giant sword after he got caught in the explosion of whatever he hit in the cannery which in part was good because he wouldn't be able to handle so much weight… and bad because he made himself quite faster than without it… in any case, he swung the weapon up in diagonal trying to slice the alien, then swung it down, left, right, he tried to hit him no matter what, showing, surprisingly for his enemy, certain ability using it.

The least he expected was him holding the blade easily with a hand firmly, which of course surprised him much more than he'd liked to, he tried to make let go, but he was unavailable for it, being the panther alien stronger, to then let go making him fall back and making his weapon fly a few meters back as it made that clinking sound of the metal. When he turned around to look at the panther, he got a painful kick straight to his face that sent him flying backwards, even behind than his weapon, once he recovered from it immediately stood up and went behind it, only to feel a breathtaking kick on his stomach that took all the air out of his lungs…

He couldn't struggle against the pain, falling on his knees and coughing hard, his vision was blur again, about to become unconscious, his eyes struggling to focus and seeing the black shoes of the evil panther, who tossed him against a wall by whipping him with his tail.

He couldn't struggle against the pain, falling on his knees and coughing hard, his vision was blur again, about to become unconscious, his eyes struggling to focus and seeing the black shoes of the evil panther, who tossed him against a wall by whipping him with his tail. He barely got time to react when the top of his friend's sword _**almost**_ made a hole on his forehead, having tilted it to his left side to avoid it…

There was a trail of blood coming down his nose, some leaked to his mouth making him taste the metallic flavour of the crimson liquid, the blade also made a cut on his shoulder, it was actually deep, he didn't even feel it at first until a few seconds later it actually did hurt a lot, reminder that it was sharper than it looked; without losing time he moved to grab the handle of the weapon, succeeding at it yet starting to feel pain. He wouldn't give up now…

"Wow, you're pretty tough, kid..." Max said growling softly, yet it sounded calmed with a mix of honesty, "Indeed it's really bold of you to face me, even though you know you can die… and yes, you have some of my respects for it."

Flint got back in attack position, ready to launch himself back for a fight even if he didn't still stand any chance against him. He ran towards the panther, only to feel a punch on his face that de-stabilized him; he tried to attack again, being dodged over and over again as he got some other hits on his chest, shoulders, face, forehead… it didn't matter how many times he fell, he always got back up growing weak but determined to get him away somehow.

Tim tried hard to go and get his son to stop, but he was being held back by the other citizens to keep his own safety, the inventor heard him calling out his name many times, and it was making him go more and more against the panther not wanting to give up just yet… weakly both Brent and Alex started to recover their conscience, when they saw the inventor in the way he was going they wanted to help, but they were feeling tired to do it.

The beating was becoming worse than before, with his face bleeding, part of his lab coat scratched and others already ripped in large parts… the wound of his arm wasn't the only one to worry about now; breathing heavily some wheezes could be heard showing damage in his lungs, then he coughed taking out some blood, he was too tired to keep going, finding himself on his knees and leaning against the ground with the sword… "Why…?" He lowly whimpered.

"I couldn't hear you, boy..."

"Why…?" He repeated again, "Why are you doing this…? You're literally condemning a child for something she didn't do but her family…" He took a little pause unable to breath properly, "Please… leave us alone… that's all I'm asking you now… you already won..."

There was silence, like he was thinking about it…

"After the girl is dead, maybe I'll let you live..."

The grip around his sword tightened in anger. "Are you fucking serious...?!" He asked angry, "What the fuck is wrong with you to fucking condemn a child for whatever the flying fuck other people did?!" The more he thought the less he understood, humans were already too weird for him, and this man was weirder; whatever rule or anything he was following was just messed up, "Just leave her fucking alone for once at fucking all…!" He was losing it already.

"What does a stupid boy like you knows about this kind of affair between warrior races?" He asked coldly, "You don't know what's losing everything you love! My entire family was murdered, my race, everything I fucking loved was gone…!" His growling became louder and heavier, "Her father destroyed my planet and everything I knew… now I'm returning him the favor!" He was losing it, too, "Why don't you better go with your parents and let me end this? As if you actually know what's like to lose something important..."

That just completely got Flint angry, way too angry at the point he stood up looking straight to the panther man's yellow eyes with fire in his blues, "I do fucking know what's losing something I love with my entire life!" He roared, this time making his enemy step back in surprise, "I fucking saw my mother die when I was eight years old, do you know what's seeing the people you love lying in a hospital bed while her life is fucking going away from your hands without being able to help?! Do you know what's like to be actually helpless?!" There was a heavy silence around, nobody dared to break it, "The worst thing you can ever be through is seeing somebody you love with every single little thing you have without being able to save their live! And guess what, there is actually something worse and that's go through the same fucking hell twice!"

Brent had an idea of where the story was going… he smiled a bit in response with a bittersweet expression feeling completely related to his screams of pain, tearing up and wanting to cry so much with him…everybody else just froze where they were…

"I don't–" The man was going to say

"I've been through the same hell… twice in my life..." His chest couldn't handle the secret any longer, he wanted and desperately needed to let it out, "Her name was Marlene O'Neil… the prettiest girl I ever met in my life… we met… we befriended… I fell in love… and you know what?" His completely looked out of his mind with the stare he was giving, "Her father, a fucking asshole! He fucking beat her up to death because he didn't like me! And I couldn't do_** anything**_ to save her life!" Indeed he lost his mind already, sounding all furious, raging wildly inside, but more than that, broken, "And guess what else…!" He looked down with tears furiously falling down his face, "She died in my arms too! And what her last words were…?!"

_ **I love you…** _

_Marlene…!_

His knees didn't handle the weight anymore making him fall down again, with the young man sobbing out loud, he felt his body cold, as if he was back in that dark basement in the house of Shelbourne, yet his mind was remembering how he held a beating young girl with white skin marked with several injures including what looked like cuts, and a long, curly brown hair; her eyes were closed, and her beaten face got a little yet peaceful smile…

He was sobbing silently while holding her body so tight in his arms…

But God! It felt so fucking good to finally tell that out loud! He always thought he'd take that straight to his grave but… it was so hard to tell how it actually felt, it was as if a weight got lifted from his shoulders, something that made him feel, among all the rage: relief… incredibly everyone were surprised to hear the brief story, while the only one who knew all along… for a moment it felt like Max understood what was going on, and actually, it seemed like the two stories hit him hard.

The point of the story was so simple: he wouldn't be able to handle one more loss, that little girl Maximus hated so much was so important for the young man… it was an actual plead from his part, he did want her to survive and be left alone for once at all.

On the other side, Tim now understood why he once arrived back home seeming completely pale a couple of years ago, lost in thoughts, with his icy blue eyes dull almost lifeless… as if he saw something traumatizing; back then he didn't speak, he didn't say absolutely anything but head to his laboratory where he remained locked for days straight without being heard nor seen by anyone.

Yes, he was worried, yet he didn't have enough strength to go upstairs and check on him properly; when he came back he seemed weak and petty, like he didn't sleep during those days he stood locked away, all he knew is that at least he used to get some of the food he always left in the entrance… he never found out why, now it was clear: another death that hit him harder than anything, and one more and it'd be the end.

"I know you have issues with her family… I know they took your family away… but please… if she didn't do anything then just leave her alone… you're punishing a child for the mistakes of the adults… just put yourself in her place at least…!" He was in despair to make him change his mind and stop it for once at all, "How many times has she pleaded you to stop attacking her?! Just tell me! Because I'm sure she did it many, many times…!"

With the not-so-many clues he got about the issues between her and the panther man, he made an attempt to get in her shoes for at least a moment, only to find himself unable to scratch the surface of the hell it must be run away from her life constantly at the point she couldn't go back home for the sake of her loved ones… the panther was hesitating a lot this time, as if for the first time someone made him ponder about his actions, the thing that said that the most were the low position his ears got.

Flint only hoped he could understand the whole point: children had nothing to do with what adults did in the past, the other thing was that revenge wouldn't change anything but bring more misery. Despite everything that's been happening for the last hour, he also hoped there was a conscience inside the panther man; he was an animal too, but one with use of reason like human beings with morals and beliefs…

He heard growls of anger as Max stepped back once holding his head, mumbling weird things as if his mind became a total mess feeling that no one ever faced him in that way, in a non-violent way where the points of view of the other person were being exposed and how it was affecting everything; among the things he (kind of) understood coming from him were, "Everything is wrong! This is all wrong!" as if he was totally nuts, to then pass to a "He's playing with your mind!" while it was exactly the opposite, "But he's right! She's still a child..." passed from one side, "She is the daughter of the king of those space monkeys that killed everyone!"

"Look, just move on… if she dies it won't change a thing..." The young inventor said, weakly standing back up, "Her death won't bring anybody back to life nor rebuild your planet… you're only going to make yourself completely miserable..." That side of his was totally the one from his mother: tender, soft… and then he realized he had to do the same from those things that scarred him for life, move on… the enemy seemed to process the information for a moment, then he had the feeling he was going back to that savage state from before, "Max don't let your instincts take over you like that..." He said, "You're more than an animal…! You can beat it…!" To be honest, he didn't think he would empathize with him, even if he was becoming… unstable.

"Shut up!" He roared furiously, releasing a similar wave of energy that Alice caused early, becoming once again the mindless beast from before, "Just shut the fuck up now!" His body was shaking showing him in a certain kind of distress, the inventor slowly started to step back gulping heavily, to then fall down dropping the sword and keep crawling upon his back in fear, making his father want to run to them and save his son once again.

Then he felt the hand of the panther man grabbing his neck tight, starting to choke him slowly; the fisherman managed to set himself free from the grip of all the others, only to get whipped back to the start by the raging alien, who started to lift up the inventor and punch his stomach hard, taking the air more and more from his lungs… he was losing his conscience fast, everything was darkening, death was round the corner… he just thought about Alice, his mother, then felt that he would soon meet her again... and suddenly the wild blows ended, Max threw him aside releasing his neck barely leaving him alive and hardly breathing, with the least he could see, he saw him looking to a side…

Alice was there looking completely shocked…

"A… Alice..." He barely said, his voice didn't come out his throat.

The man started to recover back his sanity and pass to a big grin, she was barely standing, yet looking horrified for the scene given… "How... dare you...?" She asked slowly, looking down with tears, "How dare you... to treat my best friend like that?!

The voice of Alice was somehow different, very different, airing pure rage, loading air into her lungs, launched a strong cry of battle, mixed with the sound of something beastly, a dark aura coated, completely different from the golden aura of before, her nails became claws, teeth were fangs, and her eyes changed to a purple color with torn pupil… her position was one of a beast in four legs, similar to the man when he was down to the lowest.

"What the–?!"

"You... are so dead... Maximus!" She shouted letting out a powerful shockwave that turned a large part of her surroundings into dust.

This time, things took a turn of 180 degrees, and Alice was completely furious...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1): I realized she didn't introduce herself to them the first time


	8. Tear Up this Town

_Tear up this town_   
_Blinking in the sunlight as the walls come down_   
_This fire will burn_   
_Digging for a truth that just can't be found_   
_Don't want your lessons in love_   
_I want to tear it all up_

_Tear Up This Town - Keane_

* * *

_ **Flint… wake up…** _

He pretty much lost his conscious almost after he saw Alice back, only finding himself in the darkness wanting to sleep and recover from the entire jolly ride of the day… he groaned when the voice talked to him, remaining in the same place and position…

_ **Wake up… Flint please!** _

"I wanna sleep… Marlene?"

His eyes suddenly opened pair in pair to find himself surrounded by destruction as there was someone standing in front of him like a beast in four legs, realizing it was her… Maximus was, on the other hand, staring at her scared as apparently was the first time he ever saw her in that way with a couple of big claw-like cuts upon his face and other parts of his body… the inventor tried to move, feeling his body burning in pain and how it also felt like it was going to rip in tiny pieces with the slightest movement.

Again Flint tried to move, feeling his abdomen burning in pain more than any other part of his body due the wild punches he got before, "Alice..." He slowly, almost silently said, now he looked some parts of her body, he realized some of her most severe wounds healed already, her hair looked messier and somehow, slightly longer and spiky-ish, his body made another attempt to move, wheezing in the process and coughing a bit…

His coughing made her turn around and look at him, indeed looking like the panther when his mind went lost due rage, to then turn back towards him growling softly after she heard her enemy moving a little bit; as much he could tell, there was something he missed in the minutes his mind blacked out as there was significantly more destruction than before… once again he tried to move in vain feeling number than before, his whimpers brought her attention back onto him, making her quickly start to help him to _try_ to sit down…

It was almost in vain, the pain was much more than he could handle…

"Flint..." She softly whimpered seeming remorseful for his actual state, slowly her features seemed to go back to normal as now her main focus was him and not Maximus, "I'm so sorry… this is all my fault..."

"It's alright Al… I've got w–" He couldn't end the sentence as he started to cough heavily, covering his mouth with a hand, to then spit some blood on his hand and on the soil...

That only added fire to the volcano…

He tried – empathising on _**tried**_ to ease her somehow but it was too late; she clenched her jaws hardly as the demonic features came back remarked as the purple aura surrounded her entire body again.

Without hesitating a single moment she turned around back to the Panther man raging brand more than before, loading lots of air in her lungs, launched another roar full of pure and burning rage directly to Maximus, causing another shock wave that sent him flying back, moving at high speed towards, appeared opposite powerfully to punch his chin, everybody swore to have almost heard a cracking sound, to then see his body flying towards the grasslands being closely followed by the girl.

Now the two major threats of the moment were gone, the townsfolk got out the shelter and tried to follow their fight as crazy it could be, the only ones who stood were Brent and Alex who finally managed to move and Tim with Henry, going to aid his beaten son… the three teenagers felt amazingly bad for the inventor this time, among all the many times he got teased and that kind of stuff, they never thought they'd see him in that very way…

And Flint? He was completely done, barely conscious once again, when his father moved him all he did was agonize, whimpering in utter pain, "Flint… you're…" He tried to say.

"I need to stop her… dad..." He said, "I need… to–" He didn't end the sentence again due a heavy coughing, letting out some blood once again, "Shit..." Mumbled trying to get up by himself, yet his body was refusing.

"You really, really need a damn medic, Lockwood." Henry said, trying to stop him.

"No one here... is going to need anything if… if no one stops her..." The inventor said, "We may not be here… anymore if… she keeps rampaging like that…" Again he tried to stand up against all odds, not caring the pain crossing his entire body, "I have to stop her..."

Using all his will he finally managed to stand up, barely, but up, being supported by his father and the other three to not fall once again, between his breaths they heard his lungs wheezing loudly, with the panther man having made a lot of internal damage… "Son, it's very dangerous and you can't even walk..." Tim said softly and concerned, "I don't want you to risk your life again… I don't want to lose you..."

"I know dad..." He said, tearing up in response, "I told you when I found her…: she's my responsibility now… and I'm responsible of what she does..." He looked down cleaning his mouth from the blood, to then look at his face, not directly to his covered eyes, looking determined, "Look you know I've… said stupid things to her today… I still need to fix that..."

Without saying anything else he turned around and tried to make his way towards the battleground, wobbling to the sides about to lose his balance… and it was going to be a long way where he mightn't be able to reach in time… before he could fall again, the three (temporally) ex-bullies held him tight making themselves responsible for their early behavior.

Despite all the pain he was feeling at every single movement, with their help they rushed towards the grasslands almost running out of time...

The least the fisherman could do now was wish them luck.

Once the four arrived they encountered behind a huge crowd – pretty much the entire population witnessing the battle from a safe distance and keeping the children behind as it was quite a brutal scene that not many could handle, they stood quiet for a second, then the stomach of the inventor started to burn again making him cough for the third time, but he couldn't give up, it wasn't an option in any case. Once again filling himself with determination, they got through the crowd all together, to then being stopped by Earl, Cassie, and Cal:

"Flint, where are you all going?" Cassie asked worried, much more to see him so… beaten, "Oh God… you're not planning to–"

"I must... stop... Alice..." He interrupted without much air, just walking was too much, "I really need to stop her… I..."

The young inventor almost fainted again, but was stopped by them group that forcefully had to put him down, making him whimper in pain, his hand made its way upon his chest wheezing, to then, obviously, start to cough badly…

"Dude, you're completely nuts!" Calvin exclaimed surprised, scared to see him so badly injured, "He almost killed you, and this time she perhaps will try to kill you! She's completely out of her mind and you're not in the shape of even moving a single muscle! It's suicide!"

He tried not to swear out loud again...

"I agree with my little angel," Earl said, "Flint Lockwood you've got way too many hits on your head! You're gonna die, I can't let you do it!"

Indeed nothing could get his nerves more than hearing the same thing all over and over again even if they were right and had a fair point, even his body was still screaming and pleading to him to lay down and lose his conscience, he was too weak in the worst possible physical condition with so many injures and a possible internal bleeding… perhaps even about to die…

It wouldn't matter if everybody else had the same fate as him… and that'd happen if he didn't stop her…

"Earl… in the same way you're responsible of your son… she's mine..." Many more tears were coming out his eyes again, "I've said hurtful things… almost related to this… entire disaster… she's my only friend… I need to solve this… it's the only way..." Throughout the overwhelming, burning pain his body felt he quickly got enough strength, somehow to stand back up, "Let me do this…"

The police officer decided to meditate about it for a few moments before getting to an actual decision, after thinking a little on his son, he gave the green light to Flint to go, who became happy for that. Then, there was this massive light that felt like blinding everyone once again, this time it wasn't coming from Maximus... was from Alice with an arm in high covered by dark energy raising a new massive ball of energy similar to the one from two chapters ago; she didn't seem to no longer measure her own limits, with everyone only looking scared, he realized that she had left the alien panther unconscious…

His predictions weren't the best as his fears became true, "That attack can reduce the entire planet to star dust. And all for wanting to fix affairs with Maximus..."

"What?" The six people around him exclaimed alarmed

"Are you saying that if she doesn't stops now, we will be universal history?!" Earl asked fully alarmed, Flint only nodded slowly, "What the flipping heck are ya' waiting for, Lockwood? Go now!"

Without any more doubts, ignoring all the damn pain once again and making them go to a safer place (something they didn't), they ran direct to the place, he still felt pain, but it didn't matter now, the only thing that mattered was to make her react before it was late.

His eyes caught then a huge rock and right in front of it, giving her back there was her preparing the shot of grace; it was tall enough, perfect to jump, he took one moment to jump out of there, falling behind the girl by surprise, making the giant energy ball disappear, bringing a momentary peace for everybody else. Both began to struggle with everything they had, Flint trying to hold her arms while she tried to break free, the young man had problems to contain the superhuman strength of Alice, but somehow he was managing to do it...

Of course something had to happen...

Alice arose a few inches from the ground and began to hit herself wherever she could in a desperate attempt of getting free from the grip of the young, becoming harder, stronger, horrible pushing him to be closer to release her, clinging with more force to it but losing them fast at the same time due all the damage he was getting. Things just got uglier when she raised in the air, and began to fall back in a hammer attack, with all the intention of making Flint let go, who this time was doomed.

When they arrived at the ground, a huge cloud of dust arose in the area, scaring everyone because of the unknown fate of the young inventor. From the top of the curtain of dust, Alice jumped out, completely unscathed, her hair became more pointed, as well as their nails and teeth walking on 4 feet, dust, a hand appeared dragging on the ground... the young inventor just couldn't move anymore. He was very exhausted, even more than before, his lungs were wheezing more than they did before, his arms almost had no more forces to stand up, yet again like a miracle or as a power taken from inside he stood up again, barely, but did it.

Quickly he tried to hold back Alice, who was close to charge a new supernova, before he got the chance to hold on against her again, she disappeared, reappearing behind him... he didn't have time to react…

A scream of pain crossed the hills and far away calling everyone's attention, his body barely had time to process the burning sensation crossing his back in diagonal... Alice, who has strived to protect him just gave him a giant claw scratch on the back, tearing his lab coat and leaving him with a huge wound of four claws. Neither he could believe it...

Completely lost in rage and unconsciously, she began to beat him, and ultimately, she sent him flying against the rock where he had jumped before, attempting to stand, the dark energy took the form of a gigantic claw, and scratched to Flint again, leaving a huge claws in the stone and doing the same that happened to his back, making him split blood, and weakening him completely...

Tim, who arrived a while ago looked to the scene scared, his eyes couldn't credit what he saw neither Earl nor any of her friends or the three bullies: the young girl just attacked her best friend mindlessly, Brent looked also at the scene expecting a real miracle, at least one small...

And Flint… he was defeated on against the rock sitting down on the soil without feeling his back, without feeling something small and drained of energy... the damage which had received before by Max, and now by the young, he was thinking... just things... who was really, what was his purpose in life... Why he is still alive...

He never realized when his mind left...

.

When he recovered his conscience he found himself alone in the middle of the grasslands, at the feet of a big, familiar green tree as the sky was clear and painted with the colors of the sunset, he sat down quickly feeling totally confused as the last thing that came to his mind was everything fading away, realizing he didn't feel pain… actually, the thing that called his attention the most was realize he was completely unharmed, as if he never got beaten…

Slowly, confused and disoriented he stood up to see where he was, finding there was a familiar lake in direction of the sun setting and someone sitting at the shore of it… curly brown hair, around fourteen years old, wearing a simple white dress… he couldn't believe it… she repaired in his presence, showing a pair of warm brown eyes and a happy smile… "Hello Flint, nice to see you again..."

He slowly approached to her still unbelieving what his eyes were seeing, the girl stood up showing that her dress was at the height of her knees, he remembers that they were around the same height, now he was actually half a head taller than her… without saying anything all he did was hug her so tight at the point he didn't want to let go again, she giggled in response and hugged back, having been like a lifetime…

"Marlene I…" He said, a lump was forming in his throat making him feel like choking, he was so emotional in that moment, only to have her index finger upon his lips.

"I'm glad to see you too, Anthony..." His expression was one of cringe, as if he hated to be called like that, she giggled again in response, "How come you can hate an amazing middle name? I always thought it suits you."

"Why did I tell you so…?" He asked looking ashamed, yet smiling, she invited him to sit down and look at the sun falling slowly, the light refracted on the surface of the water, the ambient was calm… it was so charming, something he needed a long time ago… "So… am I… dead…?"

She went silent for a moment, like wondering what to answer, "Well, actually no, but almost..." She said, "This place is most likely a place in your mind where time is relatively dead, where we can talk without worrying about anything else. A place of you an I… somewhere only we know..."

He looked to the sunset again, with his eyes crystallizing with tears as the deep sorrow of her loss came back, he couldn't handle it again, covering his face with both hands to sniff hard and whimper softly; her hand caressed his back to then get hugged from a side, "Why didn't you let me take you…?" He asked, "I could've saved your life… maybe you would still be alive if… if..."

"Flint… there was nothing to do for me… in either way, I would've left you, and I know how painful it still is but you have to let go and move on..." She took his left hand and pressed it with hers, feeling it wet due tears, "There's nothing that hurts me more than seeing you suffering… your mother is the same, we don't want you to keep yourself stuck with us and just move on..."

The inventor stuttered an apology encountering himself in a very sensible point in his emotions, yet his pain was understandable. Sometimes even she felt amazingly guilty for what happened feeling that she was the one who should apologize for causing him so much troubles throughout the couple of years she's been gone… "Hey, listen…" She said again, "I'm the one who owes you an apology for bringing you all of this pain to your life. You've lost your mother in a similar way, then I left and you got back to be alone… but now just focus on the people down there who loves you. You have your father, your monkey Steve, and now Alice..."

Friends had their upside downs too, that's what she explained: it was natural to fight sometimes, but if the friendship was true then they'd come back together and keep going, renewing their bonds and making them stronger every day; it wouldn't be in any other way than that. It always takes time learning to fly, at the same time it was hard to find a friend and an answer to some simple questions… in any case, they'd come together if things among were real and not just a smoke screen…

Looking at the sunset he understood what she said, starting to fell encouraged to try again even if he could fail over and over again; the spectrum of reds and blues of the sky reflected in his eyes showing what felt like determination and understatement, as if something inside got to knowledge a missing thing, to then close his eyes and smile. Not with grief, nor regret, but with peace… he looked to her eyes. "Thank you Mar…"

"Don't thank me silly, you just needed a little guide to understand..." She said, "In any case, if you're telling her about us, bring her here after whatever is going on down there is over. I know she became special to you, otherwise, you wouldn't have brought me here years ago..." He nodded in response, hugging her tight feeling like it'd be the last time they'd see.

"I'll miss you so much..."

They broke the hug as she placed a hand upon his cheek, caressing it softly, "Your mother and I will always be by your side, Flint..." There he kissed his cheek for a long moment, "And don't ever forget that I love you… even beyond death..."

.

When he recovered his conscience, slowly he felt his forces coming back, for some strange reason feeling someone or some people helping him to stand back up, he felt awesome and full of life without knowing why, his determination grew bigger and bigger at every moment while this blue aura started to surround him, those burning pains disappeared even if he still was badly injured...

Alice was loading a new energy with both hands: bigger, way dangerous and deathly than the previous one. Without hesitating a second he quickly ran behind the young girl from her back, covering her with his charming aura at the point it started to override the purple, dark energy that made her go wild; she was surprised he was even up...

"Alice! I'm Flint, please stop this! You're not like this…! You're not a beast…! Calm down… I'm begging it to you..." From a complete struggle, she slowly stopped trying to get herself free as a warm sensation invaded her, consuming the darkness...

An enormous light surrounded the place as a light spread, blinding everything… when they all recovered their vision, there was nobody but now a giant field of flowers of many colors that everyone reminded to poppies – something nobody understood how happened, there neither were Flint, Alice nor even Max who probably recovered conscious and left without their realization. Tim was frantic, truly worried about his son, screaming his name just to hear the echoes across the fields... so were they… dead…?

They refused to think that.

For once that's when the town realized they actually cared a little bit – deep down about the inventor as they were used to whatever he had in plans and also have him used to pretty much destroy everything in his path (sometimes, not always). It was fun how people actually realized things when it was too late for it, like how someone realizes they actually cared about something or someone after it's gone/over; it was a gift to see that everyday and being able to show how much they cared, but now…

Was it the case?

In any case, the fisherman quickly went to look for his son and the girl to where they previously were among the grass and flowers under the setting sun as the stormy weather was taken away by the battle, yelling again his name while the policeman, son, his best friend and the three ex-bullies following from behind ready to help in anything they could.

That's when they finally found them lying on grass, Flint holding Alice in his arms as both of them were unconscious and looking like a mess. One side, she looked unharmed as her wounds healed again after getting covered by the layer of dark energy, on the other, it seemed like his wounds stopped bleeding yet he was totally worn out… slowly, between Earl and Tim lifted the inventor up, to then find himself in his father's arms as Alice was placed upon his back carefully. Seemed like a complex thing, but he could carry them both.

Once back they saw the citizens staring at them worriedly, to then look at what was previously a battleground: of what was the town was made powder, some parts, however survived like some of the homes (and actually, amazingly enough the Lockwood house was untouched), while the commercial area and downtown was totally gone… it'd take long, really long to get everything back to what it was…

The goddamn sources...

"Alright, we have much work to do…" Said Earl discouraged, he was already having plans on what to do, when to start and see what exactly survived among the debris.

"Earl... wait..." Said a weak voice.

Alice was awake, more tired than after having received the attack of the supernova and way weak due the entire jolly ride, she got herself out the back of the fisherman to almost hit the ground, getting saved by Earl and placed down, slowly, barely standing up wobbling tiredly to the sides and almost lose her conscious again, to being supported by her friends once again...

"Guys... let me go... please..."

"You are too tired to stand alone Alice, you really need a break…" Cal said worriedly, "Come on, this entire mess it's over so you can now take some rest."

"Just trust... me... please..." She asked once again, struggling against the tiredness.

Even if they were reluctant to it they let her go, she just couldn't keep standing right and began to wobble to the sides again. The adults were trying to persuade her to just fall down already and take that well-deserved rest after the entire madness, she completely refused… see her best friend in his father's arms added a big weight upon her shoulders at the point it felt she was about to fall again, but was stopped by two enormous hands grabbing her arms and some behind her back, making her crack a little smile...

"Thank you..." She said in a low voice, partly wanting to pass out right there knowing she could lean on them, partly trying to keep up.

"Thanks to you…for everything..." Tim said.

"What... what do you mean...?" Indeed, she didn't understand him, maybe she was too tired to understand.

Tim just looked at her, and began to tell her how much that resembled Fran and how grateful he felt for being by Flint's side regardless the problems that happened in the day; of course unlike his son she understood whenever he used fishing metaphors which got her emotional, he then offered something totally unexpected in her honest opinion...:

"Would like to be a part of our little family?"

She was surprised by the offer, looking slightly embarrassed having being taken totally off-guard. She had her own family, yes, but she was a lot away from them and now she was being given a place to belong. Just like the first time they met she looked down and said:

"I'm not seeking to replace anyone..."

"No one will replace anyone Alice..." The man said once again with a softly voice, "We both agree in the same... and I would really like to stay with us… I already see you as a daughter and I'm sure Flint sees you as his sister… you make him happy and… I just want him to be happy too..."

In the same way that happened in the McHale house, she broke down into sobbing… all she expected from them was hate, stones and sticks yelling at her to run away, but instead she was having kindness… not like she didn't like that, it was just extremely unexpected. Tim managed to carry his son with an arm so he could hug her with the other, she completely gripped against him crying and sobbing hard, showing how necessary it was.

Once again it was the reminder that how more than a warrior, she was still a young girl.

With the others, Earl was crying a bit of excitement, saying something like: "This is enough to make a grow man cry". Cassie and Cal were happy for their new friend while the dynamic trio of Brent, Henry and Alex just walked away from them. Alice broke the hug cleaning her eyes, to then walk down the hill where they were towards the ruins of the town…

Everyone watched the girl with more curiosity than a few minutes ago wanting to know what she was going to do, when it seemed that she would do nothing, the golden aura came back... some rebel clouds that refused to disappear with the heat of the battle were located above the town, she threw her power into the sky as a golden pillar and it disappeared in a cloud, storm clouds were gathered back around the island, and then definitely fell down with tears down her face.

"I took... so much away... and now… I'm returning what was taken... thank you... Flint..."

At the moment they were going to go back to her, a raindrop fell making them stop, then it began to rain... at first it seemed stupid to have spent whatever was left of energy in a rain, but then the rain made the town get rebuilt as if it was a magic trick or an illusion... what most surprised them was to see how the same Flint was being healed and all his clothes were fixed, but the only person who didn't have the same effect was Alice, who had a smile on her face…

Then the scientist woke up out of sudden, totally confused and looking to his sides probably thinking everything was a dream… until he saw her on the ground, quickly he checked on her not having realized his body healed, being his concern big enough.

"Why is she smiling?" Earl asked confused

"Pride... I think..." Said Flint

"Pride? Why do you think it's pride?" Asked Tim

He shrugged, Earl whispered something to Flint's ear, making this smile... then said:

"Don't worry... will pass you your message."

The cop smiled, Cal and Cassie waved their goodbye and left to their homes to freak out about everything that happened in the day; Tim charged the girl in his arms as they took her back to their home. This time at least she wasn't wounded compared to when they found her, just totally drained, so they took her back to Flint's old room, who this time said to his father:

"Dad I... I will stay with with..." He still didn't have the chance to apologize her properly, and he didn't want to leave her alone in case just _anything_ in the sightliest happened, "I really want to be here when she wakes up..."

"Are you sure, skipper?" His dad asked, the thing he wanted to do now there was peace again was prepare some tea and talk to his son about Marlene, but maybe it was better to leave the talk for another day.

"Completely, so I'll tell you when she wakes up and that..." Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't, there were still things to sort out and a long story incoming, "Although… we still need to talk… to her… to you… but I need first to sort out some things to her before going to it… alright?"

"Alright skipper..."

Flint gave him a fake smile, just like Tim, when he got out the room their smile disappeared, and tears came to his face as he sat down next to the bed of the young girl who was now cuddling Newt the bear, hoping when she wakes up with Steve...

Tim on the other side closed the door and the smile of this also disappeared, he put a hand on his face and sighed heavily, with tears also falling from underneath his unibrow, ready to go away he looked to the picture frame of the family photo of his son, and his wife... the last thing he expected was anything happen to his new daughter...

Everybody was worried about them...


	9. Story of a Lifetime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters before this ends. You're getting one more answer there.
> 
> Also, I literally couldn't write this chapter for long moments because of how darn cringy the original is and it really gave me a hard time to redact whatever the hell I did once and improve this version one way or another with more details and other stuff... please kill me and end my suffering.
> 
> At least I think the next one won't be the same way. Ugh...
> 
> .
> 
> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_I'm sick of the secrets_  
_Stood on the edge_  
_Tied to a noose_  
_And you came along and you cut me loose_

_Amsterdam - Coldplay_

* * *

It's been like two and a half days from the fight between Maximus Panther and Alice with the victory of the latter; in those two and a half days she remained unconscious in the same way from when she was found floating in the ocean. Flint didn't hesitate in any moment from moving away, remaining close and only leaving when he really needed to do something else like getting something to eat or feeding Steve, who also remained by their side upon her chest curled in a furry ball.

The wait just felt… agonic in many senses of the word, he hated to wait to see if she would come back or if the thing of the three days from the first time wouldn't happen due the magnitude of the fight and the poor condition she got left afterwards. More than one people asked for her condition to his father, all he could reply is that she was supposedly doing it alright in the meantime…

Why he had the feeling of having a dejavu sensation all over again? But the only difference is that this time it was taking longer to reach that damn ending that felt like about to drive him insane. Besides of that, part of what happened before just remained in his head including how beaten she was until the end… to then think, how many times that happened before? It was a long story of physical and psychological abuse – as much the evidence told…

It felt like the wait was totally worthless and she ended up falling in a coma, the wait was tiring, there was nothing to do as his mind became blocked for any ideas for an invention, and at some point he gave up having fallen asleep next to her; it was afternoon around 4:00 PM, the sky was cloudy and the rest of the world seemed to lose its sense after the revelation of knowing they weren't alone in the universe. Incredibly enough, the girl started to regain her conscious, awakening her...

Alice opened her eyes, heavily as the first time, being in the room she found herself the very first time, after having put the succession of events straight in her head she looked to her bare hands shaking softly not actually understanding at all if what happened was a dream or really happened; so many things that happened made her unsure about what was going on and what not, and actually she was expecting to having been a dream and that fight didn't happen, neither the way she and he argued neither the fight...

Then for a moment she thought it was an actual dream and nothing happened, ignoring entirely the presence of the inventor there, even more when she covered her face and started to cry in silence… then she felt a hand upon her back rubbing it softly that made her whimper…

"Flint..." She said with her voice cracked, "I-I-I..."

When the girl saw Flint, the livid memories of how they argued horribly came back, how she ran away to the grasslands angrily and heartbroken... the fight against Maximus, all of that, even when she inadvertently attacked him... she felt very embarrassed by that last action, so much that she wanted to run again, but even if her body healed, she still didn't have enough energy to do so... the girl was breaking slowly while tears fell down her face all over again.

She was just desperate and scared at the same time, not knowing what to do, Flint put a hand on her shoulder, she looked at him with reddened eyes, when she realized, he hugged her and began to cry against his chest, he simply put his chin upon her head affectionately rubbing her back... "Don't worry my girl… the nightmare has passed..."

For a few minutes there was just a loud yet muffled sob against his chest until she eventually started to calm down, the inventor just felt saddened and touched by it, showing how human she actually was even with her… special abilities; and after calming down all she did was only look down as the top of her head was still against him, feeling too stressed for everything that happened, and even if he was comforting her she still wanted to run away.

"Alice please… calm down… nobody's angry at you, I promise..." He said, "They all have been asking for you for the last two days..." His fingers slowly went to the base of her neck, starting to massage that part slowly, it made her body shiver, yet slowly relax, "Come on… I'll get you something to eat first, then let's go upstairs to talk calmly, alright?" There was silence, then he felt her nodding slowly against his chest, still looking down. "Hey… can you look at me, please?" Her head pressed more to him, "Please, calm down… I'm really sorry for having said all of those hurtful things to you back then..."

Regardless her actions in battle, the guilty feeling in his chest remained as he still was unable to apologize properly to until that moment… despite everything that feeling of she being still angry at hurt about his actions were very present and he hated it… then he felt her arms wrapped around his body too and her hands gripping his lab coat again…

"I'm sorry for having ran away… and for all the troubles I caused to you..." She quietly mumbled, her body shivered again when he caressed her hair. He just kept easing his friend as much as possible until he offered her again to get something to eat and go to his lab, so a few minutes later they did; her legs were like jelly as well, but she managed to stabilize up.

There was a little sensation of repeating the first day they met but without Tim, who was at his shop covering his turn as usual; for now he served her some milk there was from when he went to the States a few days ago in a glass, she took it and drank everything plus another two rounds at the same time the inventor took his time to inform his father about her awakening and how she was feeling… for a moment he looked at her, she still seemed to feel pretty low… yeah, he was worried, maybe it felt like they went right back to the start where she was again that shy little girl that just woke up…

So… time to start all over again?

Whenever he tried to to make any kind of contact like rubbing her back or anything else she used to flinch slightly in response, yet never complained neither said something about being uncomfortable, actually it just felt like she was expecting him to be mean, yell, be rude to her… it never happened. He sighed softly knowing they went several steps back as she was enclosing herself once again in a similar way from a few days ago and it was annoying in his honest opinion; but it was what it was, the only thing left to do was try to talk to her…

"Liz…?" He said in a low voice, sounding concerned, the nickname caught her attention, "Calm down… alright? I just wanna talk to you… I-I think we both deserve to sort out some things and… I wanna know about your life too..." He took a pause, then continued, "Look… I'm... really sorry for all the things I told you early a couple of days ago… I was… you know, overwhelmed for all the thrills that happened with Henry and Alex and then you turn out to have that kind of abilities and strength… I wasn't thinking I was… stressed and I didn't mean anything I said..." He sniffed hard for a moment trying to calm himself down, "I know I already apologized but… I… I'm really sorry… I was having a bad day and all I did was release all that rage upon someone who really didn't deserve it… you've been so nice and understanding to me and I repaid everything to you by being a complete dick..."

At that point he was tearing up to then just cry out loud while covering his face between his hands feeling all his thoughts totally messed up, he tried to keep going and be fully honest to her as much as he could but no words came out anymore, sending him slowly to despair; only to feel her hand upon his left chest as she felt his heart beating hard against it…

"Ishin denshin… (1)" Somehow he understood what she meant with it, there weren't any more words coming from her after she said that, it wasn't necessary anymore.

In part there was a weight lifted out of his shoulders, his right hand went upon hers feeling it warm, to then pass back again to a tight hug. Once done with it, they headed to the laboratory, right when they were going to enter to the elevator her friends peeked over the fence as they saw the inventor get out of the house, about to ask him how she was feeling, smiling widely when they saw her wide awake again. Alice couldn't avoid looking down in evident shame as Flint placed a hand upon her shoulder, rubbing it softly.

"Hey Al! You're finally awake!" Cal said sounding happy, "How do you feel?"

She bit her lower lip for a moment, to then look up with a little smile, "I'm good… thank you..."

"That was so awesome!" Cassie exclaimed completely blown away, "You royally kicked the ass of that idiot! And when you came back overpowered he was like 'please don't kill me' and–!"

"Really, it wasn't a big deal..." She replied, kinda squeezing the arm of her friend like still feeling uncomfortable.

"It _is_ a big deal!" Cal exclaimed, "Tell us everything! You owe us an explanation too and we really wanna know because that was hella freakin' awesome!"

"That'll be for another time," Said Flint with a smile, "Alice still needs a break."

Without hesitation the two kids left with an "okay" as a response, letting the inventor and the little girl get into the elevator and go upstairs; in every moment she held his arm tight not seeming to want to let go, even less when he indicated her to sit on his rooking chair to talk, but in any case she did, looking down as he got another chair for himself… she felt so awkward and ashamed, no words could come out her mouth as she seemed unable to find a place to start.

"I'm sorry Flint I… I don't… I don't want you to change the way you see the things involving me… and..."

Before she could continue, he took her hands…

"Look all I want now is just… hear your story and understand… I mean you come from the freaking space! There is more out there in the universe and… and… I need to understand your story, what are you doing here? Why are you so far from home and why was that man trying to kill you?"

"First of all I'm not from out there… my… father is… mom's an earthling and I am too… or at least from a different plane of this planet..." He didn't seem to understand correctly, or at least that's what he thought, "There are many places around the Earth, but some are in a different dimension… some are hidden… stuff like that..."

There were so many dimensions and worlds across the entire universe, stars, galaxies, civilizations, technologies… everything humankind has been questioning for a long time were actually real… even if he already saw how evident the existence of life outside the planet was ready, it was still completely mind-blowing indeed… then she said it: she was a hybrid between an alien and a human being.

How her parents met? He went to Earth around in the early 90's when he was sent to Earth for research purposes, what kind?

"Although they were this high-technological empire with many planets in hands, they didn't know what a Caesarean operation was..." She explained, "We all are born with what is referred as 'power unit' and when the units of the baby is bigger than the mother well… she dies..."

And it was a huge problem among them no matter how many more there were across the universe, even more as they were a barbarian kind that has been expanding themselves for years and years. When they heard about Caesarean operations being made on Earth what was the first thing they did? They sent their young, proud-ass, cranky and quite annoying prince along his best friend/bodyguard/kind-of-like-that to the green planet.

"Wait a second… what?!" He needed just one moment to understand correctly that last bit of information before his brain could entirely melt down, "You're saying that you're a..."

"That's why he called me 'little princess' so many times..." She simply replied, "We, Saiyans are meant to be barbarians, a race of fighters where and stuff like that… but some of us just ain't that way..." There was a heavy sigh for a moment, "I didn't want any of this..."

He felt like he understood somehow, she continued the story of her parents or at least all she knew about their relationship. They were together for years – classmates better said, he was a royal asshole, proud, irritant, a prick, stubborn… well the list was long actually, while she was always focused in her studies, trying to be kind to her friends and other stuff, also with a lot of personality whenever she got pissed or in an unpleasant situation, in a nutshell: they were almost the opposite from the other.

Then there were the stories she's been hearing about him that seemed just like a fairy tale as the reality she knew about him was completely different is that he was actually a caring-type of person who just couldn't show it as he "lacked of parental love" in his life, even if he had grinds with everybody and mostly with her mother… among all the things that happened during those college days, once he even defended her from an overprotective boyfriend who was already way too annoying to her…

Oh yes, their relationship was actually weird: it was mostly him teasing her, she getting angry, and then she managing to roast him as it became a non-stopping circle of love/hate… then in 1999, one night they ended up in his room doing having an adventure as nobody else was there and his companion was somewhere else to "give them space"… the version she got from her father's friend, it was because they were going to leave soon and he wanted to leave something…

Something?

A child…

The day after her mother was alone in her apartment thinking that everything was a dream, finding out a month later that she was pregnant… she was lucky that her parents were understanding and supportive about it, being happier for having a grandchild than because it wasn't an expected thing to happen, besides she was an adult too...

The day after her mother was alone in her apartment thinking that everything was a dream, finding out a month later that she was pregnant and alone… she was lucky that her parents were understanding and supportive about it, being happier for having a grandchild than because it wasn't an expected thing to happen, besides she was an adult too…

Nine months later, via Caesarean section, Helena Galiano got a baby girl named Alicia…

Did her father know about her? According to Link, (who was nowdays his right hand in duties), he always knew and even went to see her when her parents were away and she was asleep… the girl didn't know if she should actually believe that story or not due his cold as hell personality… she didn't know what to believe or what was the truth: if it was the story of what they told about her father or stick to his abusive-like behavior towards her…

"What does he does to you, Alice?" Her friend asked softly, yet worried, she just flinched a bit and sniffed.

"He's always yelling at me for being weak..." She said in a low, cracked voice, "He's always repeating me that I'm weak and useless and… that he can't believe I'm his daughter..." She sniffed hard cleaning some tears from her face, "That I don't actually deserve to… be… a Saiyan..."

Placing his hands around her arms he felt her shaking in rage, like trying to tone it down and keep talking but all she was doing was burn inside without letting it get out… it made him feel quite helpless again, and he kind of shattered when she started to yell how much she hated her father so damn much and how she wished to not be any related to him in any way because all that it brought her in the last two years was pure and utter pain to her life.

He ultimately tried to calm her down when her hair started to levitate and the sound of a panicked Steve were heard around by hugging her tight and letting all the sorrow get out, making her cry hard and loud once again… now he actually felt bad for complaining about his relationship with his father… after a few minutes everything went back to normal as she regained control upon her emotions. How come her dad thought she was weak?! She wasn't _at __**all**_ in his opinion…

But that came to another realization: her father was wide stronger than her…

Then, if the problem with Max against him as far he had understood with the entire fucking affair, then why attacking a young girl?

There was a revenge in-between, that's what he allowed him to know as he talked about his race disappearing from the face of the universe, and at the same time she didn't have anything to do there_ at all_ even if he was completely decided to end her life. He was a space jerk who dragged her to their adult stuff (even if, as much as he could say for his appearance, was in his early 20's), which gave him to the conclusion back in the moment that the panther man was weaker than her father, but he was stronger than her, so it was (supposed to be) easier to get ridden of her…

It _still_ made his blood boil… _so. Damn. Hard._

And of course, any living, sentient being in the universe with a minimal level of common sense would agree that it was an injustice… then just have in mind that she wasn't the only one in the world – even the universe… gosh, reality just hit his face way too hard again, reminding him that there was brand more evil outside the island and the planet itself… how saddening, wasn't it? Before even daring to ask what the hell was going on at that side he had to massage his temples for a long while trying to calm down, process and digest what he already knew.

Then he realized there was something out of place…

"So… your mom didn't know about your father's provenance, right?" She gave a soft nod, petting Steve gently, "And if I understand this part correctly despite you didn't say it explicitly but maybe this is more an assumption of mine so I might be wrong, they haven't seen nor talked to each other in years, am I wrong?" She remained silent for a while, then shook her head a bit, "So I'm right..." She nodded again, "If that's the case, can you explain what is going on there? Your mom and your family got zero clues about your powers neither that you interact with your father, how?"

She shrugged in response.

"It's… very complicated… my powers never showed up when I was younger…" She explained, "He just popped up in my life a few days before I turned eight..."

She was taken to his home planet without her mother's knowledge (as much as she asked her father how she wouldn't find out, he refused to explain back then), where gravity was few ten or twenty times heavier than Earth with two suns, two moons, the full moon was only seen every eight years (at the time he arrived, the cycle was going back there) and the color of the sky had pink and yellow tones.

In a first moment everything was so awesome as the little – naive and innocent girl she was at the time: her father was a king, she was a princess and everything should've gone well after despite the coldness of him, she would live in a giant palace placed at the top of a cliff sustained by a giant pillar, own a room of the size of a two-floored house… and she wouldn't need to be like an earthling princess either.

When did everything go downhill? When she didn't show traits to be… like them maybe…

"You've seen my tail… right…?" She asked him, he nodded seeing it moving to the sides looking stressed again, "Well… uh… when full-moon hits its zenith the tail reacts at it… it's like being a werewolf… but instead of a human-sized wolf we turn into giant apes..."

The word was quite relative in size until something in his mind told him to think about a mythical giant, all he could say was a simple "Oh..."

"Yeah… and guess what else..."

He thought about it for a moment and bit his cheeks softly… he wasn't sure about the answer.

"You… you couldn't…?"

He noticed stress in her reaction towards his mid-answer, her hands were shaking once again, "A few ones knew about my real provenance… I was in a group of other kids that were going to turn into apes for their first time and… even if I was staring directly to the moon I…"

"You were the odd one..." He completed, getting a surprised look from her, "I understand… and you know that… you felt so out of place and weird to look like them but not being able to do the same as them and you wonder why..." He looked down and cleaned his face a bit, sniffing hard, "Sorry… keep going..."

"You are right… I… I didn't understand why I was the odd one like– uh… I mean my tail didn't grow until I went to Sadala with my father but… n-none of them ever thought that… uh… I'd be that… different…" Both Flint and Steve proceeded to try to ease her again as she was starting to shake again, "They… they realized I even wasn't from the planet but from somewhere else… and right there they're… like supremacist..."

A sector didn't like her _at all_ for her hybrid blood, constantly mocking for being unable to become a giant ape, for being weaker than other kids, for _pretending to be_ an actual Saiyan… how she was a mistake… and her father didn't help either, often becoming silent whenever she told him about people making fun of her instead of helping out somehow; of course that grew a constant anger and frustration inside in her, even more because at the time she wasn't even scratching the expectations of the king during their trainings, and instead of getting tips to be better she just got indifference and what looked like disappointment…

There were times she wanted to quit and go back to her life on Earth as if nothing ever happened, but for some reason she kept enduring and trying to learn how to become stronger – not just physically, but mentally to understand and learn better and faster… the second part kinda worked right, by someone inexperienced as her, she was fast by making strategies and learning movements from her rivals, which brought acknowledgment to her person after winning a tournament similar to the Olympic Games at the age of eight years… and for some time, it also kind of eased the tension between her and the king.

Then this shit happened…

A group equivalent to what white supremacists were, broke into the palace somehow, their leader was older, a general, the group consisted of young men following his ideals, thinking that they had to get ridden of her at the same time they were planning a coup d'etat towards their monarch for mixing his pure blood with another race…

"Woah, woah, hold on a minute..." Flint interrupted, "They _kidnapped you_?!"

"I was sleeping..." She sniffed hard as she was tearing up a lot, "They were all around me when I woke up… I tried to fight back but one of them hit my neck and I lost my conscience..."

Her friend grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, Steve quickly got on her shoulders as she stood up, then sat on his lap and hugged him tight, sobbing hard in the process; he caressed her hair softly as she curled in a ball against his chest, a few minutes later she started to calm down again… God, that must been a hell of a ride… from several…

"You're safe here Alice… keep talking to me..." He said concerned, "Just keep telling me everything, you'll start to feel better eventually, alright? We're safe… you're safe… I can say it's hard to go back there, but trust me, it'll be okay..."

It took a while again to get her calmed down, even with her stuttering she managed to keep going with her story.

"When I… when I woke up again I was far away… from planet Sadala… they had to tie me up to be sure that I wouldn't be able to escape… they called my father to go after me or..." She gulped softly, "Or I'd die..."

She didn't actually think he would go and save her, even less because it was in this volcano-like planet far, far away from her previous location: lava, volcanic rocks and a black sky covered with the smoke of the chimneys, the place itself looked like it was going self-destroy itself at some point, and according to some rumours, some of the worse criminals were taken there due its location and because there was something in its core that made the planet slowly start to suck the energy of any living being around the orbit…

They called it _Anur Vladias_, or The Dark Zone.

Why going to a place that dangerous if they could've all died? Well, it was their way to _try _to stand a chance against someone stronger than them, that's why.

And what seemed to be an eternal and terrifying wait became her joy when he actually went to save her, hearing him screaming a loud, raging "Where is my daughter?!" outside; she saw him using a combat armor and a red cape. Even if he showed to care about her, in the daytime she still wonders if he did it because of a genuine concern of his or just because to avoid problems with her mother if she died; although, he did seem genuinely angry towards the people who dared to take away his daughter.

Of course the young ones were easy to defeat as they were relatively unexperienced compared to their king, who didn't show signs of tiredness yet, at the same time it didn't mean he wasn't getting affected by the strange no-death situation of the planet, he was doing it as fast as he could before running out of energy.

At the point he went to that golden transformation she showed against Maximus, referred as the _super Saiyan_, she realized he started to feel the lack of energy in that point which could only worsen up the situation. To add more to the plot, the man who orchestrated her kidnapping made a ball of energy on a hand, once tossed to the sky it became bigger, and out of sudden there was a giant ape roaring…

"The thing is… when creating the artificial moon, the power of the user decreases to certain point for putting a lot of power in the technique. It should've been easier for dad to win but… somehow… it wasn't… he was losing..."

"And what about you…?"

.

_ **Flashback** _

_ **June 8th, 2008.  
Anur Vladias** _

Among all the many things that happened to her in the very few months since she descended to the hell that was being the daughter of a proud king, target of many people's laughs and discrimination for his half-blood provenance, exhaustive trainings, pretty much no recognition for her advances as a warrior and other things, maybe this experience, for a young age was much more than stressing and frightening.

For hours she's been trying to set her arms free and get out from the small, round space pod where she was trapped in, already having tried everything in her mind to do so, but alas, nothing was working. With all the fear she even did lose hopes on escaping alive or getting rescued by anybody as if they'd even care about that little hybrid-mistake until his father arrived with pure rage, almost having killed the frightened young ones of the group that realized their mistakes and finally going behind the person behind the entire affair happening.

And now she was witnessing how her father was being crushed by a giant ape even after the first went to a fourth form of the _super saiyan_ where he looked more like a man-ape with red fur around his upper body and including arms, cursing under his breath about his bad luck about the affair and how he already needed to win before it could get any worse than it was.

King Vegeta IV was having a very bad time.

Naturally he was bigger, stronger, better and faster than any other warrior of his race, he was at the top of them with four versions of the super saiyan – an accomplishment never before, yet somehow it wasn't being enough to win this battle, and the worse part is that his opponent still didn't start to show any signs of tiredness unlike the king, who was slowly reaching that part. Even if his movements were still as fast and powerful as they should be, it was clear if he kept going it'd be the end. The only reason he kept going was to end all of it for once.

In the slightest chance he got to distract his pair by shooting an energy beam to his face leaving him blind and stunned for a while, he quickly he went to take her out from that pod by pressing a hidden button under the window, making the door of the pod open up, taking her out and releasing her wrists.

"Dad!" She whimpered and hugged him tight for his biggest surprise, even if he could be cold, he returned the hug seeming relieved to see her alright.

"We have to go right now, Sharotto. This place is dangerous for all of us." He said, "We will be alright… I promise..." Among all the things he's ever done, maybe that was the first time he was behaving like an actual father.

Without losing any more time he got her in his arms and started to run away to not drag the attention of the giant ape, who was still agonizing for the pain in his face after that hit from the king, the latter held the girl so tight in his arms as she was looking upon his shoulder towards the giant ape frightened…

Why not flying? He didn't have enough energy, there was a ship outside the orbit of the planet awaiting for his call. And, if anyone's wondering, he didn't want to leave, but there wasn't another choice as much as he hated that, his main priority was put her in a safe place first, recover a little bit and then end with that man afterwards…

She turned around to see how the ship, which had a strange resemblance to a bracelet because of the round "arms" of the ship, segmented in six equal parts each one met again without touching each other, leaving a large space of twenty meters long between the "arms" that ended in arrow points, with the walls of that part being totally soft, with energy panels all upon the plain surface, telling to the alien crew that the ship had a cannon incorporated in it. There was a ramp down ready to get them up, she looked back again, they were close from escaping…

The giant ape saw that and charged energy in his mouth...

"Dad watch out!"

There she felt him pushing down her head in a desperate attempt of protecting her life from the attack at the same time a bright light blinded them for a while…

There was darkness for a while where she became confused of what happened, she felt something – someone upon her; mid-key heavy, slowly she crawled out, finding herself still there. Turning around she looked at her father: unconscious, back to normal and hurt… she tried to wake him up, he wasn't responding…

"That's what our 'king' gets for mixing with a human!" The giant ape growled, surprisingly, "This is what happens when you are weak!"

"Dad… please… wake up..." There was nothing more than fear filling her inside, from the very deep down taking over her entire self, "Please… wake up… I'm sorry..." She sniffed, tears were falling non-stopping from her eyes.

She felt helpless, horrible, like a complete useless weight for everybody around… she was weak, stupid, lacking of total experience fighting, of the power needed to defeat someone like that man… there was despair, fear, she was screaming loud and hard underneath, was everything lost?

"Now that I'm getting rid from all of you, I will fucking find that human who gave you birth and kill her right in front of you! Then I will destroy the Earth!" The said by the giant ape hit her core way too hard, from fear it passed to a growing rage inside feeling like a burning fire spreading wildly.

Something snapped, she didn't know what. There was energy accumulating in her inside growing and growing uncontrollably, giving her a weird sensation going up in her spine; the pebbles around started to shake and then float up in the air, the volcanoes around the area erupted furiously letting out the lava straight to the black sky ragingly, the black clouds reacted to the strange chain reaction of the nature with loud thunders and quick lightnings…

People inside the ship were staring surprised to the scene, even more because her hair started to float, switching between a gold-like color and her dark brown constantly, her hands were gripping the remaining clothes of the back of his bleeding father who was barely alive and totally out while the rocky soil under her knees was cracking in a crater, ceding to the crushing growing power…

_ **Broooooooooooom!** _

At the same time she let out a loud scream of rage at the very top of her lungs, a powerful, destructive shockwave was released, first the wave, then the powerful explosion turned dust the pebbles and rocks around the area. Her hair became a bright golden color as she was also surrounded by an aura of the same color, quite spiked up, looking up straight to the red eyes of the giant beast, her eyes became sky-blue filled with so much rage… a few tears were still around the corners, slowly fading away showing full rage.

"Impossible! There can't be another…!" The ape mumbled shocked, "You won't beat me anyways you filthy hybrid!"

She launched another loud, angry scream of rage and disappear from view, out of sudden she was right in front of him. Little time he had to react before feeling a sharp pain from a blow straight to his snout, which stunned him for a few moments, another blow was felt again on the other side of his face, and the thing that almost brought her the victory in three movements was a powerful blow straight to his throat.

As I said: _**almost**_.

He gagged for a while trying to recover his breath, quickly launching his hand towards her in a desperate attempt of grabbing her, and fast as a fly about to get smashed, she dodged and ran on his arms, again back to his face. He expected her for running out of energy quickly, but it didn't happen at all, quite the opposite: her blows were becoming harder and her movements faster.

The battle ended after she tossed this powerful energy blast that consumed the giant ape, as being the first time she ever went to that form and she wasn't used to a high energy consumption, she fell unconscious, but being catch by Link…

_ **End of transmission** _

"When I woke up again I was in my room with a headache… the man who tried to kill me and my father got taken back too and was executed and the others… well… they were luckier and learned their lesson..." She ended.

He remained silent for a long while, again processing the story she told him about that affair…

"Why didn't they believe when you turned into the super-something?" He asked curious.

"There is a legend that says that every 1000 years a super warrior is born," She started to explain, "This being is the most powerful among all of them, it's the legend of the Super Saiyan… my dad was the first ever to reach that transformation like a decade ago…? And I'm the second one..."

"With eight years…!?" He was surprised, "But as you reached such kind of power at a young age, doesn't that means that maybe you are that warrior of this millennium? Just putting in mind that even if your father is the first one it doesn't means he's the person the legend has talked about."

She just let out a soft, almost sarcastic chuckle in response…

"Someone as pity as me can't be the person a legend like that is talking about..."

"Alice you can reach the second and third transformation your father can use and you're just ten years old. You are powerful enough to keep Maximus away from you for some time, maybe in this life you are, but you just haven't reached that power yet." She didn't answer this time, "Anyway, how did you meet Maximus? And how did you end up here in the island?"

Once again she started to shake…

"After my father learned I could turn into a super saiyan, his trainings became more of a hell… the first time he showed me how to do it, it took me… three or four days to learn how to transform myself without any more complications… so… one day… I escaped..."

Far, far away from everything to a safer place needing a break from his hellish, draining trainings she ended up in a distant planet, with some money she got saved and her royal provenance as a secret, ended in a little bar getting some food before tracing a route back to Earth in an effort to avoid and mislead the king and his army from getting her back.

This tall dude with cat-like ears appeared when she was getting something to eat, at first he didn't realize a thing despite the fact she seemed oddly familiar due a certain resemblance to her father, showing at first askance to her for_ looking like a saiyan_ until he somehow realized_ she actually_ was one – even if she was a hybrid, to then become a murder attempt when she dropped an insignia of the royal family: a red anchor-like insignia

This tall dude with cat-like ears appeared when she was getting something to eat, at first he didn't realize a thing despite the fact she seemed oddly familiar due a certain resemblance to her father, showing at first askance to her for_ looking like a saiyan_ until he somehow realized_ she actually_ was one – even if she was a hybrid, to then become a murder attempt when she dropped an insignia of the royal family: a red anchor-like insignia with three arrows at the left, right and up in a V, the line between the hook and the upper part was segmented in two, and the semi-circle at the bottom as the hook, with two half arrows at the ends.

"He started to attack you only for having that?" He asked, disappointed but not surprised at all at that point, "What does your family got to do there?"

"My grandfather declared them the war a couple of years before I was born after series of events that leaded to a genocide..." She explained, "Max did survive because he wasn't there when it happened, he was like… my age maybe… two years later my grandfather died and… well… he swore revenge against the royal family… so when he met me, he thought it'd be a 'nice place to start'… and it only added more problems to me..."

She didn't just unlock the other two transformations out of rage and despair (barely being able to maintain the third version) but get heavier training sessions that were draining both physically and mentally only to not end barely alive in another fight. Her father wasn't being any understanding about her lack of experience, constantly rushing and pushing her to the very limits, often ending in a medical capsule that uses a special liquid to heal any physical wound both outside and inside in a thing of a couple of hours depending of how bad the state of the person was, to then go all over again through the same process.

That was spiralling towards madness, faster for her for being a child. The plan was increase her powers as they got a special something that allows them to increase their power levels after receiving a large amount of damage, adjust to the enemy's battle tactics, and a few other extras that made them malleable specially for fighting… it kinda got limitations: self-inflicted wounds didn't help at all, and a constant, repeated use of this innate ability only could bring less progress than before.

It became futile.

"Woah..." That's all the inventor could say in that moment, she was still on his lap against his chest, as if she felt safe right there hearing his beating heart. "And… you escaped from there again before ending here, am I wrong…?" She nodded.

"We were having a training… he was pushing my limits all over again… he was mentally pushing me to the limits and… was calling me weak… that I worth nothing and… you know… stuff like that..." Her hands were holding his shirt tight as she started to tear up again, "I snapped..."

The thing she remembered from that day was the way she snapped before everything just became blurry, but as much as they have told her in the aftermath was that she completely lost her mind in an explosion of rage, how half of the palace suffered severe damage and how around a hundred people plus the king in his third form had to do everything to put her under control. For what?

To wake up in a cell, heavily chained like a monster that was totally out of control. Afraid and confused, impotent… alone…

She couldn't keep going, getting into a panic attack, being his turn to calm her down… think about the story, then remember his own words back then that morning, calling her a monster… his arms closed tighter around her, sniffing hard feeling way too dumb all again; the story so far was already unbelievable, now knowing how crazy her actual life was just made him feel dumber by how he treated her after saving him from the bullies… and yes, maybe she already forgave him twice for it, but he still couldn't get over it… at least not yet.

"It's alright Alice… don't forget we're here now… just keep going..."

"My father went to see me and…" She sniffed, sobbing softly, "I asked him to… to get me out of there… I was so scared and confused… I just wanted to go home… he told me that I was in jail and that I'd be there for an undefined amount of time… I pleaded him to not leave..."

"But he did..." She nodded, "I'm so sorry Al… how long did you stay down there?"

"Around a week… I guess Link released me on purpose as he was the last person to see me and even left a key… so in secret I left and made my way back home..."

Stealing a pod, disconnecting the tracker of it she programmed the coordinates back to Earth, which would be a long trip of around a day or so, landing on the dark side of the moon, ready to fly into the atmosphere, get back home and keep going on with her life as if nothing ever happened, neither the existence of her powers, aliens, the outer space nor her father and his race. Enough was enough, she was sick tired of everything and all she needed was a prolonged break and peace, get her feet down to earth (ironically), focus in stuff that kids of her age would… only to stumble upon Max, who apparently did follow her or it was a casualty.

She pleaded him to let her go because she wanted to avoid any kind of confrontation, he didn't listen as usual.

They fought, she was trying to get away, he didn't let her…

She didn't want to fight anymore. Period.

"_**Such a whiny little piece of shit...**_" She remembered him hissing, repeating it also out loud, feeling a ghost grip around her wrist, "_**And you call yourself a–**_"

"I told him that I'm not like them… and how I hate to be related to them... because I'm only paying for the broken plates..." There she looked straight to his eyes, "I told him he's a coward for downloading his rage on me… he punched my face..."

"_**Come on! Fight! Struggle! I don't fucking care but do something!**_" He shouted, she didn't reply, which just brought out an angry groan, "_**Ah! You're so pity! Tell me what's your purpose in this life!"**_ She didn't understand that leaving him without reply, holding her neck tight and making her look to his eyes. "_**What is your true purpose in this meaningless life?!**_"

"I still didn't understand what he meant… I think I'm so empty and… meaningless..."

"_**Who you fucking are! Why are you still alive and why are you still fucking fighting me! You have none asides of the natural instinct of living, and that's so pathetic and pity that only makes me feel angry!**_"

She felt to have none... still lacking an answer to him, with a drifted off gaze. The man gave a spin and tossed her away towards the void of the cold space where she was expecting to die in a few seconds... a burning feeling got her body as she was dragged away. For moments she only felt pain and didn't hear anything…

Out of sudden there was some light as her eyes barely adjusted to the light, seeing the blue sky of the Earth, then, her body hit the water… she felt the cold, dark sea wrapping its arms around her, pulling her down to the deep while the surface was becoming distant; the aching pain of her wounds due the salt didn't matter, she didn't care whatever could happen now, only wanting to die…

"I didn't know who I was… why I was alive… why all of this was happening to me… I was just allowed me get swallowed in the sea..."

And then he showed up by taking her out...

Even if she witnessed worse shit than him, he still felt reflected in her life, she began to shatter way more than before, to proceed to sob harder than before; all she did was grip his arm as he hugged tighter and keep crying, Steve also made an effort to calm her down too, again.

For ten minutes all she did was cry until there was nothing left to sob… she felt lighter in certain way, having needed to let it out for so long under his point of view; there were still some questions he had in mind, but maybe it'd be nice to not do it for now. Her silence and her breathing tuned down made him think for a moment that she fell unconscious as a mechanism of self-defence of her brain to avoid more traumas to her mental stability, which was evidently fragile since the very first moment you meet her, she just cuddled more in response…

"Uh… I still have some other questions like how your mom knows nothing about this, where did you get that sword and what the material is or what is that plasticized piece of paper… or even how did you meet Coldplay…" He said, both trying to see if she was still await and if she would reply to him.

"One…: dad gave me that sword after showing interest in weapons… Link convinced him to do it..." She replied hoarse, "It's made of a hard material called _adamantium…_ check on the internet… they only exists in outer space… two: the piece of paper is to set an illusion to hide my tail… third: I have no idea… but it's better for her to know nothing… and fourth: it happened a month after the kidnapping thing… I came across one of their concerts a couple of years ago and… I stuck around..." He felt her smiling a bit, yet she still felt so blue…

Placing her back on the swivel chair, he pulled out a mirror and placed it to one side, then grabbed the chair and dragged it in front of the mirror. She had her head down still feeling so petty and quite miserable, the young man softly proceeded to put his hands on her cheeks and raised her gaze towards the mirror, the face of the girl was red by tears, she seemed emotionally drained to look away, unable to do it...

"Alicia, tell me: what you see there?"

She looked at her reflection, reluctantly, her hands became fists with rage underneath like wanting to shatter it to pieces, and simply not feeling any right she said:

"I see a waste who cannot do anything without risking to people who she loves... carrying the weight of the errors of her family..."

"No... and that's not what I see..." Flint began with love in his voice, in the very same way her mother would've done it, "What I see is a girl who wants to do things by herself... who doesn't wants anyone's help to carry her world… it's a girl with a pretty fragile heart... which doesn't was anyone to worry for her even if deep down you need it... t's someone who doesn't know to who she can rely for their experiences... and who need rely to get ahead... someone who also knows the little things of life... and who is beautiful inside and out...

Alice gazed at her reflection, tears began to fall again, and a slight smile curved on its face, grabbed the hands of Flint and squeezed them, the young man was surprised that it actually worked, and felt very happy that she was trying to, hadn't given account of shooting star had granted him his wish…

"Thank you so much Flint… you don't know how… this means to me… so much..." She whimpered sounding happy, relieved...

"Why are you even thanking me? I should thank you for sticking around with me… even if I treated you like shit before..." He said, turning her around and cleaning her cheeks from the tears, "Come on, Alice you're the nicest person I've met in literally years, I'm actually surprised that life just enraged towards you in this way… you're nice, you care for the people you love, and if they won't see what you really are and worth then… they're just fucking stupid and blind to not realize what they're missing… and you know what? I'm not even sorry for meeting you. Actually you are the best thing that happened to me in so long… and I'm so grateful for meeting you… and..." Slowly he got away and grabbed the smithereens of her broken heart, then got close back to her and lend them to her, "I'm still so sorry for what I said… I… I tried to fix this… but..."

Her hands got upon the back of his and closed them, there was this bright light inside his, when he opened them again carefully, he saw the broken heart back to normal, as if it never broke at all… more questions came to his mind in that moment.

"I already forgave you… I couldn't be mad at you even if I tried..."

The girl gave a yelp when he suddenly gave her the tightest hug of the day with the crystal heart in a hand, it was a something she couldn't deny at all…

"I love you so much Al… so please… don't leave me alone..."

Her arms wrapped tighter around him.

"I won't… I promise..." She cleaned up her face seeming better, as if all the long chat lifted up a weight from her shoulders, the change of mood was felt by Steve, who became joyful, "And if you still have questions just keep going… we still have a long time here..."

He sat down and took a deep breath…

"So how did you do that? I mean fix it like that?"

"It's… uh… complicated… I mean my powers somehow can fix things… I discovered that once when I broke something made of porcelain at my grandma's house… just a random thing that happened… I learned how to control it and even use it in a greater scale..." Her gaze went out the window with a little smile, "It's like… going back in time or something like that…? It can go to a previous state or even further behind… it's weird..."

"I can tell..." He said, "Can I have powers like you?" The question clearly made her surprised, "This might sound crazy but when you lost control, well I felt this strange energy emanating… it made me feel so… powerful… that I could beat the entire world with a hand… it's weird isn't it! I just thought… maybe you can teach me… and yeah I'm a man of science, and I witnessed a fight of two aliens, my best friend is half alien and there is a brand different and greater world outside this planet! My-my mind has been expanded and..." If there was something that could make an accurate vision of his head was how it blew away, she chuckled softly.

"I think I can try..." Maybe the thing that was making him happier in that moment was seeing her smile without fear, "And… can… can you tell me what did I do when… when I lost control…? But please tell me everything… don't… don't hide anything..."

That made her little smile vanish, even if he preferred to hide the events and move on, it was something that couldn't be hidden away as maybe someone else would tell her sooner or later, so he did and told her how she completely lost control becoming this beast with dark energy and how Earth was nearly compromised twice because of a massive energy ball… and, unavoidable was telling her how she nearly killed him in the process… she looked down and completely embarrassed, passing back to that process of calming her down.

"Hey, hey… that energy wasn't you, I'm completely sure about that… so tell me the truth about this too..."

.

_ **Flashback  
Two days ago…** _

Her way towards where her friend was (at the same time she could even feel the energy of the inventor next to two people she wanted to punch again) slower than a snail, barely being able to stand up, needing to lean against walls to keep on moving and fighting against the burning desire of falling down unconscious without caring anything else in the universe…

Flint was the only priority crossing her mind in that moment, even if meant dying in the process of protecting him from Maximus.

Very deep down in her mind in her subconscious, her conscience she just woke up, finding herself in a very dark place. A dim light was illuminating the darkness present, she was lying in a puddle of water upside down, half of her face outside feeling way too tired to move a little bit showing her mental weariness... then her body was being pulled up from there ground, being lifted it, looking down she saw shadows around her waist and down.

From the darkness a couple of eyes red popped out, with a monstrous white line of sharp teeth… then a large figure emerged, showing this large black snout. It was a Japanese dragon: it had a crocodile head with long deer horns, a long serpent body with dark violet scales like lizards, salamander snout, eagle claws, long dark beige lion manes at both sides of where his neck started, very long catfish whiskers, the lower part of his body had also a beige-cream tone with two red lines putting a limit of his upper and lower part. His tail was lost in the darkness...

"_**Gururu…**__** you finally came down here to visit me...**_" His voice was deep, somehow familiar too.

"Who are you…?" She asked weakly, "I… I've heard you before..."

**"****_My name is Drakon, Alice. I_****_ can give you power to finish him,_****" ****S**aid the dragon with a demonic voice, "_**if you**__** borrow **__**me **__**your body, I will take care of the rest for good...**__"_

All she knew is that he wasn't using his tiny arms to get her but the shadows themselves, a shadow hand was opening one of the eyes of the girl, her body then arrived to where Maximus was torturing Flint, when the images came to the consciousness of the girl, they popped in the form of a screen on one side, feeling how negative emotions started to take over her and the shadows were surrounding her more...

"Flint... I need... save him..." She said weakly stretching an arm towards the screen, seeing how he was being punched in his stomach mercilessly, "I need… to save him…!"

_"_ _ **But you have no energy, little girl...** _ _"_

He slowly placed Alice on the floor, she fell to a side tired still both physically and mentally, so she couldn't remain standing up. She looked helplessly like Tim how Maximus tortured her best friend; a few tears out of her eyes, the dark power engulfed her again, and the demon came out of the darkness quickly wrapping around the girl, who just looked forward, then said:

_"_ _ **If you don't want your friend to die, I'll pay you with my energy… ** _ _ **what do you choose? His death or my offer…?** _ _"_

_At that point there was nothing to lose, right?_

_"What do you need…?"_

_ **End transmission** _

_"So… I let him take over and… the rest is history already… _ _I completely lost my conscience afterwards… I don't remember what did I do..._ _"_

The little last story just brought, again, many more questions than before…

"This Drakon thing… is uh… inside you then…?" She shrugged in response, "You've seen him before?"

"He's what sometimes makes me explode… back when I was eight I heard him… he just… triggered it…? Again when I first fought Max too… I think… and a couple of weeks ago when I exploded in Sadala too… but this is the first time I've ever seen him..."

"Maybe your enhanced healing powers got something to do with him… it kinda makes sense… I guess..." Again, she just shrugged in response, "Then that's the entire story… right?"

"Pretty much… I guess..."

He rubbed her back in a way to comfort, the crystal heart was still in one of his hands, looking at it he placed it back on his night stand, deciding to fix the base later. A little bit of his drawer was open, letting him peek inside. He saw the folded photograph inside, all he did was silently open it and unfold it to show again the picture of that fourteen years old girl he used to know as Marlene O'Neil, with him next to her looking like a couple… he looked happy, dressing an actual tuxedo suit as she wore a pretty aquamarine dress in what looked like a Valentine's dance…

His hands started to shake, then looked at Alice petting Steve on his head…

He couldn't take it any longer.

"Liz, I… I want to take you somewhere..." He said, his voice trembling, folding the photograph again and putting it next to the frame of his mother, "Can we…?"

Alice was staring at him confused and curious, tilting her head to a side softly...

"Where…?"

"You'll see it soon..." She walked to him as the monkey got down, grabbing his hand in a silent way to accept, "Ishin denshin..."

She nodded with a smile in response knowing that he could learn a lot from her… before leaving he called Tim to let him know that she was all right and they'd take a little walk, and after talking awhile, Flint hung up and lifted the girl on his back taking out from her some giggles, taking the elevator in that way. Steve stayed in the lab to avoid any further problems just in case...

Down the streets the people looked to Flint and Alice, both felt uncomfortable by the stare of everyone, then... heard an applause, then two, then five, and then everyone in the place were applauding, some even whistled joyfully. Earl watched with a smile to the duo... Cassie and Cal watched them pass with happiness, while Brent, simply smiled as Alex and Henry just took a step back, meaning a pause for an indefinite time to their teasing...

The duo were heroes, and they had all the respect of the people... for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Ishin-denshin: Denotes a form of interpersonal communication through unspoken mutual understanding. This four-character compound literally translates as "what the mind thinks, the heart transmits". Sometimes translated into English as "telepathy" or "sympathy", ishin-denshin is also commonly rendered as "heart-to-heart communication" or "tacit understanding". There is also a song called "Ishin Denshin (You've got to help yourself)" made by Yellow Magic Orchestra and a cover made by Keane


	10. Don't Panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter before the epilogue.
> 
> I had like three to five songs for this chapter so I picked this one. I don't know if I'll be re-writing something else at the same time I'll be trying to write All Your Friends without fucking it up... so, see you soon in the meantime!
> 
> .
> 
> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_Oh, all that I know there's nothing here to run from...  
Cause yeah, everybody here's got somebody to lean on..._

_Don't Panic - Coldplay_

* * *

Reaching the grasslands, Alice got down his back and took his hand to walk beside him, not understanding where they were supposed to go. The skies were clear with a few puffy clouds upon the island, which meant no rains for now… they were passing by the same place she lost control of her emotions, passing next to that stone Flint used to leap upon her that now had giant marks of claws on it, making her feel embarrassed. The reason he realized that was because she squeezed his hand slightly more…

The wind felt fresh, dragging some of the salty air of the ocean, slowly and softly undulating the grass, some parts did get lower than others, everything felt so nice… calm, natural and perfect… her long, black shirt of "I got the brains" that still looked like she was using a dress due its oversize was levitating softly along her hair with the wind, giving in some way this sensation of peace she's been needing for a long, long while…

How long have they've been walking already? Fifteen minutes maybe? It was away from the town, maybe deeper in the grassland, somewhere only he knows, maybe somewhere special he wanted to share with her... sounded a lot like it indeed, otherwise he'd probably told her where exactly before leaving the laboratory, and it had something to do with that photograph he held before getting out. She looked back, it seemed so far away now they were crossing the hills…

"Where are we going Flint?" She asked, he seemed… distant, "Flint?"

He yelped softly popping out of his thoughts, then looked at her with this tiny, melancholic smile reflecting some sadness and… pain? Well, that's what she could translate out of his expression, he seemed sad, distant and in certain amount of internal pain, just like she was before telling him her entire story, this just felt like an untold story incoming… anyway, he avoided her question, even after she asked him if he wouldn't like to fly there… it made her tilt her head to a side like a confused animal.

And after what was in total twenty five minutes of walking they arrived to this big walnut tree in the middle of nowhere, it had some fruits growing around, not too far from being mature enough for its consumption, she could sense the sweet smell detaching from it which she liked a lot, next to the tree almost at its feet there was this crystalline lake (more like a large-sized natural pond) that extended towards the west… there was this joyful glint in her eyes showing her love for the place, getting on her knees by the shore to peek inside curiously: at the same time she saw her reflex, the inside was clear…

If he wasn't so distracted looking to nowhere he'd realize she finally looked happy...

_ **If you're telling her about us, bring her here after whatever is going on down there is over. I know she became special to you, otherwise, you wouldn't have brought me here years ago…** _

Again he found himself trapped in a constant cycle of leaving and coming back to his mind, with memories flooding his head as a song was playing in his head – well two from the same artist, in a jumbled mix to pour down his feelings… he just disconnected for a moment, not realizing he was singing softly the verses of a song against the trunk of the tree; there were verses that highlighted his current mood:

"Why… why do I come here…?" He sang softly, sounding smooth,_ "_Seeking out the memories I hold dear... 'cause you put a spell on me, made me live in memory… and I'm frozen in just the wrong time..."

"Oh, you like Keane too…?" She asked with a soft smile popping him out of his thoughts, looking at her to her eyes, "They're my second favorite band..."

"So… that's how they're called then..." He replied, smiling a little bit, "I heard them on the radio when I was ten-eleven years… didn't know how they were called neither how to look up so… I sing this song every time I come… if it's not the other one… but I'm going off-topic..."

"What are we doing here?"

He looked towards the water in, still a distant way, feeling like he was talking to himself instead of her, and that she was just a part of his imagination; maybe all the times he came alone carrying his worries, thoughts, hopes and fears made him just have that behavior…?

Huh…

It's been days since the last time he felt sure of what was going on… like if everything that's been happening for the last week (how fast…) was nothing but a crazy dream…

"This place is where I used to come with mom when I was a kid in a frequent way whenever I felt… blocked or something similar. She told me that if I was ever bringing someone here, that person should be special for me..." So there they were, "And… I have something to tell you… you've been so honest to me telling you your story so… I feel like I have to tell you my stories too…"

"You don't have to if–"

"I want it and I really need to let it out… even if the townsfolk already heard this, you didn't… and I wanted you to know some things about me but I've been feeling so afraid of… you… changing your mind and leaving or something like that…!" He felt stressed all over again, he felt done, his throat needed to scream out loud to let that despair get out in the same way he did to Max when he told him about his losses…

"Is that bad what you have to say…?" She asked, he didn't give a reply asides of a heavy silence as he looked down towards the water, "Flint… I trusted you to tell you about my life and even forgave you for yelling at me, tell me your secrets and ask me your questions..."

"Oh let's go back to the start..." He sung softly, "Running in circles, coming up tails… heads on a science apart..." Tears started to stream out his eyes as he sniffed hard, "Nobody said it was easy..."

"Flint calm down… please… it's alright..."

"Is not alright!" He exclaimed sounding so… distressed, "Is not and it will never be alright for me! Okay…?!" He was breathing heavily this time, she quickly hugged him tight, carefully to not hurt him with her strength, "She's gone because I couldn't save her and– and…!" There he felt a slap on his face that made him snap out of his anxious attack momentarily.

"Just calm down, and explain… slowly and steady..."

_ **Flashback  
November 6th, 2006.** _

Once there was this huge snow storm from somewhere in the north-east. Winter was hitting harder than usual the tiny island of Swallow Falls covering it in a white, thick layer of snow; the vision was reduced to like a few inches, with the streetlights barely seen as yellow-ish white-ish blurred lights, the storm quickly covering any trace of footsteps or living beings… and there we have a 14 years old Flint struggling to make it through the cold storm.

Oh yeah, why our beloved inventor was out in such a horrible storm? Well, he was trying to make his way back home from Cannery High before freezing the hell out there and become a human palette, even with his super winter outfit the cold felt like stinging his skin deep, his hands were frozen and he could barely open his eyes at the point he couldn't even see the way he was going. It would be wiser to go back to the school, but he still was working on what was supposed to be a Flying Car (just designing some prototypes, the actual project had to be delayed until spring or even summer or even a couple of years until he had a driver's license)…

"Shit..."

The little he could hear was the crunching sound of the snow, realizing someone was going to his direction, turning around he saw this girl with brown curly hair going out from a blue beanie, struggling to reach him, he reached out his arm to her, she did the same, quickly putting her next to him with a weak smile.

"Thank you!" She shouted, "I thought I was the only one out here!"

"No, you aren't!" He shouted in response, "And you're welcome! What are you doing out here too?" He asked, "Don't you have a ride home?"

"My dad is a fucking bastard and decided to not pick me up!" She replied shivering, "I guess you don't have one either." He nodded in response, his lips were freezing, "Hey, look! I think we can hide down there!" She pointed to a light in the distance, to then grip to him again feeling right about to fly away by the blizzard.

Holding each other they walked towards the source of light, with an arm in front of their faces in an attempt of covering from the blizzard, when they reached the place, it turned out to be a gas station. Luckily for them, a store near it was open. Without hesitating they got in, now recovering their vision, the inside was warm enough, which was perfect to recover some of their body heat… both of them stopped shivering after a while, safe from the storm. Weird that it was open, normally that was something that didn't happen, but well, it was better than being freezing out there that horribly… just to recover in a better way they bought coffee.

She first asked for his phone now they were safe, digging his hands in his backpack he got it out and handed it to him. As much as he could say for her face for this quick moment, she wondered why it was so big and looked strange but didn't say it out loud; she just opened it and called her father. He wondered who it could be, looking at her face for a moment brought up a familiar, scary sensation… weird.

A while later, after arguing for a while on the phone she hung up and gave it back to him.

"He won't come?" He asked curious, she groaned in response, "Oh… well…"

"He says he can't pick me up because of the storm and I have to go walking..." She replied, "That's so nice, isn't it? It's been a stressing day for me already and now I'm stuck here..."

"Hey, at least we ain't freezing outside..." He said trying to lit up the mood a bit, "By the way, I'm Flint. What's your name?"

"Marlene, nice to meet you Flint."

He extended an arm to her with the intention of shaking hands, she looked at it a little bit like hesitating, then smiling and grabbing it. He felt warm, nice… gave her a really nice sensation of trust, kind of, the feeling was mutual.

Just to get something to talk about for a while he asked her where did she live and if there wasn't someone else to pick her up from there, for the first thing she replied that her home was on the Main Street, which with the blizzard outside was a far walk, about the other question she went all gloomy first, to then reply she just lived with an asshole dad and a shitty adopted brother. Expanding the thing about her mother, she didn't know if she was alive or not, she didn't remember anything at all asides of the fact she was called Christina and her father never brought up the topic neither what happened to her… actually she felt invisible for him in the same way he didn't seem to care about her at all (similar to Alice in present time).

In the same way, maybe he did, deep down…

By his side he told her that he also lived with his father, controlling certain anxious feeling when it came to talk about how Fran died four years ago in a fire that went to his leg going up and down uncontrollably; she remembered that day and mentioned that a few of her friends also lost someone back in the day. Mention how Tim cared a lot about him – but not about his inventions brought up how she still remembered about his walking TV running away from the house, taking out a soft giggle out of her and getting him slightly blushed with this tiny, dorky smile as he scratched the back of his head nervous…

It kinda made him wonder what happened to it, if it still was running around somewhere or if it just broke down and died. He was still eight at the moment so… it could still work someday.

Just to not leave a long, awkward silence between them they kept talking about whatever the first thought came up to their minds, finding some things in common asides of the thing of their parents until they decided it was time to leave as none of them would spend a night in the gas station. Nice thing and timing was that when they got outside and stepped out the gas station roof, casually the blizzard stopped… _Weird…_ he thought, then looked to each other with a grin and walked away.

Their way was similar, they kept randomly talking nicely, he felt safe to be _nerding out _a bit to her about the climate or some other stuff like maybe some sci-fi movie…

The bubble popped out when they reached his street, having to part ways: by one side he got finally home while she kept walking back home… little she realized that he just stared at her going with a little smile…

_ **End transmission** _

"Well asides that dad almost murdered me with a bear hug I… I looked up to this book that comes out every year that got everything about this place and…" There was this little smile as some tears were coming out his face again, "can you believe that she was the daughter of someone as vile, creepy and shitty like Albert Shelbourne?"

And, he hated it or not, she became Brent's step-sister even if they didn't actually adopt him in a very official manner.

In a beginning he was afraid that he'd appear dead due this unusual hatred he got against the Lockwood family, but they became friends for… a year if he was right, whenever Shelbourne got to go to the US for some of his businesses – an often thing even now and then – or whatever the hell he was invested in, they always used to hang out together almost in secret.

Why in secret? Because even she was afraid of her father. Maybe the thing that got him more scandalized about it was when she had enough strength to show him some bruises and even a couple of scars upon her skin, which pretty much confirmed a lot of his fears around the mayor minus the reason of his erratic behavior, which also became the reason of why he gets so panicked whenever he thinks about… things that could happen around him.

Even Brent knew all along, he didn't ditch anything just to make her a favor and even if he was as afraid of Shelbourne as them… it was just one of those very few things he did right for Flint, because it was also for her.

Other things that were around was that she used to love blue campanula flowers, never said why, but he thought that it was because they reminded her of his eyes… they also found Steve together when he reached the island in a box, she was the one who gave him his name after Stephen Hawking… he started to shake again.

The idea of the Monkey Thought Translator was indirectly her fault after wondering what was he thinking about… and it was also the way he found to find himself less alone those days they couldn't see each other… he sniffed hard.

They tried the Flying Car together. She playfully teased him for days for forgetting the wings.

Maybe the most precious memory he got of them together was recorded in that photograph of her in his lab, which was a dance for Valentine's day (thankfully, Shelbourne didn't give a fuck about the ball because oh, surprise! He was at the US), almost the only time in his entire life where he wore an actual tuxedo (of course, his lab coat underneath) and got to dance with someone – he was pretty good at it even if it was just waltz… the first time he got to dance with an actual woman…

The very first time he actually did fall in love.

_You look so pretty..._

"I'm sorry..."

_ **You look nice too, Tony...** _

And one day he brought her to that special lake for the first time…

_This place is my special place Mar, and I… I wanted to share it with you… is not a big deal but…_

_ **It's beautiful, Flint… I love it!** _

He was crying in utter silence, with a pain he wanted to kill so badly in his chest once again.

_My mom told me once upon a time to bring here the people that I really, really cared for… so… here you are… you are special for me… and I really appreciate you didn't turn me down like everybody else…_

_ **They're stupid, not you. If they won't take their time to know someone as amazing as you then they can just go and fuck themselves… they are the ones that should change… I think you are way too good for them…** _

And every time he was there, all he heard was conversation as a painful reminder that he'd never see her again just like his mother. He heard her voice right next to him, as if she still was present, constantly reminding him how special he was… was there a way to kill the pain in his heart?

Then the glass surpassed its limits and he broke down in an angry sobbing, Alice quickly wrapped arms around him again trying to calm him down one way or another, but he couldn't calm down… now she felt helpless about his condition… the only thing left to do was let him pour down his rage and all the heavy feelings he had inside… she wondered for how long did he had all of it inside, how much he's been wanting to scream about that story to somebody… the least she could do now was lift up his gaze with her hands on his cheeks softly and look straight to his eyes.

"Flint Lockwood, focus on me… and calm down..." A few tears rolled down her eyes, but she didn't flinch nor look away, "Please… just keep going… I'm here..."

His face was so red, his breathing quick showing his panicked state. One of his hands went upon hers as he slowly recovered his mind… he looked down for a moment, hugging her back as tight as he could, needing to feel that she was right there and nothing of what was happening was a dream; again, at that point due all the weird things of the last week he wasn't sure if there was such thing as reality, but he now knew she was real, trying to tune down his anxiety attack as much as possible before it could become way violent…

"It's my fault she's gone…!" He whimpered, "She died because of me…!"

"Hey, hey… calm down… why do you say it's your fault…?"

"Because he saw us talking in a street once!" He yelled, his hands gripping his head this time with anger, "He hates me and my family and I don't know nor understand why! He hated to see his daughter hanging out with the freak of the town…! That's why she's dead..."

Now there was silence asides of the wind crunching the walnut tree and the grass softly, he sniffed hard as she looked at him surprised… he looked away curling in a ball with evident anger towards himself… she understood him, her case was a "what if" thing, while his… well… was a fact… slowly she sled into his arms and cuddled him in a desperate attempt to calm him down and take his mind back to reality like he did earlier.

"Flint please… just tell me the full story… you didn't judge me after I told you about my life… I will do the same… I promise I won't judge you… let me in..."

She let him in, he did it too first about the story of his mother and good part of his life in a nutshell, now it was his turn to let her know about what was one of the most haunting moments in his life… he kinda wished he could just avoid talking about it, the first time he roughly gave an explanation to Max was because he was fucking done with his abuse towards Alice – or maybe was it a reflex of that affair? Whatever, he didn't give a flying fuck if her family vanished his, the fact the panther man implied he was a naive teenager who didn't know what emotional pain was is what made him vent it out…

She just brought out what he said about her: how she was someone who didn't want anyone to help her to carry her world, who wanted to do things alone and with a pretty fragile heart… he was right the same as her… and she was now desperately trying to take part of that heavy load on her shoulders… he understood it, he didn't need to be alone again, she was his friend already and showed to be tough enough to endure anything… he didn't have anything to fear as long as she trusted him and vice versa.

He first apologized as he was feeling his mouth and throat dry for all the crying, without hesitation and quickly she separated from him and flew in direction towards the city, coming back five minutes later with a bottle of water that was in the fridge of the house, lending it to him; for a moment he looked at it, then to her seeing her smiling softly, slowly he took it with a weak "thank you", drinking half of the bottle in one shot. The cold made him start to calm down, having needed it to turn down the fire in his inside for a while… there she sat next to him, leaning against his arm which he wrapped around her…

Alice didn't say anything, like just giving him time to find a way to start the story…

_Tell her already Lockwood…_ He thought, _She's been patient about this and you told her you'd tell her about Mar… she won't leave after this… she is through a similar hell like you with Max…_

'What if?' was the question that kept on repeating over and over and over again, it was stressing, horrible, it makes him anxious… jeez! Couldn't his thoughts just shut the fuck up for a while?! Couldn't he just let it out for once at all? It was the only alternative from ripping his heart out his chest or even killing himself in that constant attempt of killing that pain inside…

"Sometimes I wander at night around the town…" He started, "as there aren't robbers nor anything you'd find in other places… it's a thing I've been doing for years that dad hates because he fears that something can happen to me..."

"What were you doing…?" She asked.

.

_ **Flashback  
April 5th, 2008** _

It was one of those nights where he just had the urge of going to the cemetery and visit his mother, he was conscious she was gone, he didn't care; whenever he went he used to talk to her tomb wanting to feel her close or next to him, where he needed to tell him about his days, sometimes he went once a week, others several days straight, but never allowed it to pass more than two weeks without visiting her.

What's been his topic for more than a year-and-something? Simply Marlene O'Neil. Due some (probably quite obvious) things he didn't talk about it to Steve but to his mother, he loved to think that she'd be probably sitting on the dirt looking at him with her angelical smile, giggling at how dreamy he was being at who was his first love, maybe even encouraging him to tell her the truth and start something both beautiful and dangerous…

Maybe she was there and he couldn't see her, sitting on her tombstone with arms crossed giggling happily to see him again in that way: happy, dreamy and hopeful. Even if he tuned himself down sometimes because of everybody else, this time he actually had hopes that there could be something beautiful between them… even if he was crying while talking, he chuckled with joy… he didn't feel afraid of doing it…

Well there was something that made him happier and decided to share it with her: Marlene gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Yeah, it wasn't his first kiss _yet_, but it was a very significant thing for him, maybe if he ever got the chance to tell her his feelings that event could happen…

Walking down the streets back to his home he felt butterflies in his stomach; he wondered, was that what everyone called love? If that was the case… he did like it. The sensation was odd, new, lovely… amazing… he felt his feet about to stop touching the ground, now his real question was: did she feel the same for him? He wanted to ask her, but only think about it made him feel like a complete wuss.

"Should I…?" He wondered in a low voice, "I mean I could finally express her what I actually feel and… maybe even if she doesn't feels the same I can thank her for sticking with me without caring if I am the weirdo of the town… I really appreciate her company and her friendship… but at the same time… would it be the right thing?" Ramble either in a low or high voice was always his best way to understand what he was thinking about, and what he understood with his last question was if it'd be worthy to break an already nice friendship and evolve into something intimate as a relationship. Of course, if that ever happens and if Shelbourne ever finds out, well… "I have to plan out how to get ridden of him… or at least turn down his rage for dating his daughter..."

Was escaping together to the US or somewhere in the United Kingdom a valid plan? Well, it wasn't going to be the island; yes, he could try in the UK too by joining into a laboratory – which would also mean try to convince the teachers of Cannery High to let him graduate beforehand so he could get a way to access to a college like Oxford and get a degree in something related to science/engineering at the same time he could think in something great that could give them some revenue, again graduate in record time while Marlene could get a scholarship somewhere to end her secondary studies… maybe get fake identities or at least ask for special protection from the police – it made him suddenly wonder now if the Interpol did even have a capture order for the Mayor for some quite obvious reasons… well it was a rough idea but it wouldn't be bad to plan everything already just in case….

Maybe by the way they could find traces of her mother if they leave, even if the chances were actually low. Christina O'Neil just left them without leaving a clue of her whereabouts, if she was alive or dead wouldn't matter anymore as long as they could find her…

Suddenly he felt cold down his spine at the same time an odd, familiar, horrifying feeling presented: something was oddly wrong… it felt like happened to him a time previous to his mother's death, his head started to shake as his chest started to hurt with the air starting to lack, as much as he tried to remain upbeat with the previous thoughts about Mar feeling the same for him it was impossible, it couldn't just be what he thought, it was simply impossible that the events were repeating…

"_**Flint...**_"

He shivered down more than before when he heard the voice of his mother saying his name. No, no and no, it was impossible, there was no way on Earth it could be actually her until he heard the voice repeated his name... moving side to side frantically in the search of the source, he saw a figure around a corner far in the distance that he quickly followed for several streets until he reached the main one, almost reaching the Shelbourne mansion and quickly hiding when he realized movement on the porch: he saw Marlene being dragged by her father to the house, which made him very concerned… quickly he ran there being careful of not being spotted.

He knew that if the Mayor discovered him, he was dead.

Flint felt his heart banging his chest loudly, adrenally rushing his veins making him act erratically, his mind got messed up, he didn't know what to do, he heard the screams of pain of the teenager, first claiming for mercy, crying for Brent to save her mixed with the angry yells of the insane man they had as a Mayor, the thing that did freeze the blood in his system was hear him say in a cold way that he wouldn't come…

Quickly he moved to a window, somewhere where he wouldn't get spotted easily, and the scene made him freeze entirely: Marlene was being brutally beaten by her own father, the man was hitting her mostly on her face making her bleed already, her nose was already broken, there were already bruises popping on her skin... the teenager was trying to defend herself but she was unable to stop him and get away.

Tears fell down the unbelieving face of Flint, and things got worse when the Mayor grabbed a knife and began to give her a few cuts on the face and arms... the young man was slowly shaking his head trying to believe that everything was just a horrible nightmare, but no... it was all real. He yelped out loud and covered his mouth when he saw him stabbing her on a side…

He saw her mumbling his name...

When Shelbourne retired the dagger from her body he looked at the window, almost discovering Flint, Marlene was bruised on the floor, he grabbed her head and dragged her away, tossing her agonizing body to the basement, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…!" He didn't know what else to do, he didn't know if he should call the police – no, no… maybe they wouldn't dare to act against him… besides he feared the Mayor would realize he witnessed the way he attacked his own daughter and would take retaliations towards him or his father; he quickly peeked inside again to see where did he go…

There was no other option but breaking in.

Cooling down his anxiety he went to the porch feeling again how his spine completely shivered again, the word 'death' seemed to be painted all over the place, as if there was this something screaming him that the walls of the building witnessed it before… it's been also long since the last time he felt as a scared little child…

He gulped, his head was spinning slightly as his anguish grew stronger, slowly took the door knob and opened it, another cold sensation rushed through his veins as he stepped in with the hard feeling of wanting to throw up right there but clearly he didn't. Quietly he closed it back. Looking around he could see everything was actually expensive which got him angry._ He says he's broke and look everything he got!_ Definitively his theory about illicit business here and there became stronger than before.

In a first moment he wondered where he could've left her until his eyes caught something crimson on the floor that was making a trail towards a hallway, which turned to the right. _Bingo._ He thought, but where was the Mayor now? As soon as he left is where he decided to get in, but now… he could be anywhere! "Shit!" He muttered, again: if he got caught it'd be a full game over at the same time his fate afterwards was completely unsure… maybe he would just end in jail for trespassing private property as a warning, the other option was _way_ less brighter than that…

Once again he gulped and started to move following the trail of blood until he swore hearing movements, quickly he hid behind a plant pot with a palm tree conveniently shaped to fit behind.

Taking a peek through the leaves he saw the creepy Mayor getting out from behind a door, he went pale when he saw him walking towards his direction, but found relief when he realized he took out at the same time with some difficulty a bucket and a mop… _Of course he's gonna erase any trace of what he's done! _He felt rage taking over, impotence and a terrifying yet human desire of taking a gun and end his life right there without caring the consequences. The island was agonizing, nobody wanted fucking sardines anymore and instead of trying to get some help from somewhere else asides of the United States he was keeping up all the money for himself! Sadly he had to swallow all of that and focus in what he entered for.

His eyes went back down trying to follow the path, cursing his luck to realize it was on the other side and he needed to cross him, _Fuck, fuck, fuck! _From anger it passed to frustration feeling how her life was fading and he was losing precious time, with that stab wound she got every second that passed was vital. _Come on Lockwood, keep yourself together…_ Carefully he took a look, seeing him cleaning the blood, giving him his back, _Perfect!_ Tiptoeing he crossed him, letting out a relieved sigh, looking down again he quickly followed the trail before he could come back. It leaded him to a slightly open door, then down to the wooden stairs of a basement. "I'm coming..."

He first looked back to check that the Mayor wasn't coming, opened the door with his heart still racing fast expecting for it to not creak, then slid his slim humanity in, leaving it back again in the same way he found the door. With the screen light of his phone he illuminated his way down, the ambient felt heavy, cold and partly humid, he was paranoid about the Mayor coming back with justified reasons, but the more he merged in the darkness the less afraid he felt, he was closer to her and that's what mattered in the end.

"Marlene?" He called out hissing, his voice echoed there indicating that it was a large room, "Where are you?"

There was a little silence for a moment, then…

"F-Flint…!" He heard from somewhere in the darkness, she was near.

He made his way towards her still illuminating his path with his phone by still following the path of blood, almost stumbling against a table and other stuff that looked like… oh shit, torture elements?! What the fuck?! He shook his head and kept following the path until he reached a lump on the floor near to an open skylight that let in the moonlight, it was her…

"Marlene…!" When he got closer he felt his throat closed, seeing her in fetal position on a pool of blood, he sniffed hard as he felt his forces slowly leaving, she was sobbing silently, her face was bruised horribly with her nose bleeding, "Oh my God… I… I..." She was dying… "I-I-I can… I can co-cover that wound and..."

"Flint… I'm sorry..." She said, "There's no time anymore..."

"This is my fault, isn't it?" He asked unable to stay strong and keep the tears away, "This is my fault…!" She slowly shook her head tearing up too, "I'm so sorry..."

"Is not your fault… I have one last request for you..."

"No! No you won't die!" Another part of his inside was dying with her, he hated the feeling, "I-I will heal you up and… and we're leaving the island together…!" He wouldn't be able to handle another loss.

"I want you to invent something unique..."

He shook his head angrily.

"Stop… please…! You won't die here…! We… we'll go to the United Kingdom and find your mother and–"

"I was thinking about Ratbirds..." Even if she was in the verge of the death, she had this little smile in her face, "Just imagine it… this place needs some color and more weirdness… what do you think…?"

He was grieving her so badly already, and even if he couldn't accept reality, he knew he had to let go. So he nodded and gave her a broken smile, slowly she wrapped her arms around him as he did the same, not caring if he was getting all stained with her blood. It was a promise…

He felt so grateful for having met her that cold winter day, for having waltzed together, for having given him a friendship and for having cared about. He promised he would do it for her even if it could take years or his entire life. He wasn't ready to let go, her body was becoming colder, he was losing the grip of her soul in the same way he lost his mother's, his grip around her tightened as he tried so hard to not cry out loud, but he wouldn't care a little shit if Shelbourne walked in and tried to kill him: that fucking dwarf already took away what he loved the most in the world once, now he did it again.

"Flint… thank you… I love you..."

He couldn't breath anymore when he heard those three words, his eyes were wide open as more tears fell down his face, when he let her go he saw her eyes closed, her skin was white and she felt… cold…

"No… Marlene please come back…!" He whimpered shaking horribly, he didn't feel anything but deep pain, "I'm sorry..." He sniffed hard wanting to scream, "I love you too..."

Why it has to be in that way? She was young and full of life, she didn't deserve to die in that way! Why it couldn't be him?! It should've been him! He regretted so badly for not having acted when he could, maybe – no… if he did she would be still alive… he felt it was his fault…

And all he did was cry in silence while he clenched her body between his arms for minutes that felt hours, regretting for not having told her what he felt before… and now it was way too fucking late… then it was time to leave, he gently placed her body down as he was stained with blood: lab-coat, his baby blue shirt, as he was using dark jeans they were less obvious, hands and part of his neck and face… how badly he wanted it to be a nightmare!

He looked to the skylight for a moment, being wide enough for him to get out, and he would be able to get there easily too. Using his phone again he illuminated his way to see if he wasn't going to crash against something while he did calculations, to then spot a gun. There were mixed feelings: take it, load it and pull the trigger, to who? Either himself or wait for the Mayor and kill him even if that could mean a lifetime in jail… _What are you thinking Lockwood?!_ He thought. _That's not what mom or Mar would want you to do!_

Such a nice timing for his reason to work! He was messed up.

Hear the door creaking made him realize he had to run now, if he was going to keep moving on it'd be for the two women who marked his life.

When Shelbourne reached the basement he turned the lights on, he realized there was somebody else in, somehow, having the feeling that the intruder left by the skylight...

Flint already was away from there.

He just walked down back to his home like an automaton, with his gaze lost, looking pale and liveless as a suffering soul, even more because tears falling down his cheeks. Nobody was on the streets anymore, nobody would ask him if he reached the point to kill someone, neither what happened to him, he couldn't feel his stomach nor anything, he was feeling numb. When he reached his house he just turned the knob, not even caring if it was surprised that it was unlocked because probably Tim left it like that for him… talking about him, when he heard the front door open he quickly rushed towards the living room, "Flint!" He exclaimed, to then gasp out loud to see him stained with the crimson liquid, "Flint…? What… what happened?" There was no response, he got closer to him and placed his hands on his shoulders, feeling that the blood was quite fresh… "Please answer me! What happened? Why are you coming like this? What were you doing?"

Again, there was no response asides of him just walking away from him, he noticed the dullness of his eyes, knowing he witnessed something that just traumatized him for life… he wondered what it could've been…

Flint walked upstairs and entered to the lab feeling empty inside… it felt like nothing made sense anymore… his entire world was crumbling down in the same way it did when Fran Lockwood gave her last breath, and what he hated the most is that it felt like the story just repeated: his mother died while he was hugging her, now Marlene died in his arms too… Steve saw him coming, he first got happy to see him back to then stop almost mid-air as he caught the smell of blood, becoming afraid… the inventor didn't care.

Thirty minutes to take a shower, remaining curled in a ball under the hot water, his dirty clothes left ready to get cleaned up… he sat on his bed, and looked to the picture frame of his mom, at the foot of it there was the one from Valentine's day… he took it… and started to sob uncontrollably…

Nobody saw him for days after.

_End transmission_

.

Alice just stared down unable to say something still in his arms, processing the story with tears down her face and crying as he was sobbing out loud, hugging her as tight as his arms could, she rubbed his back under his lab coat gripping his shirt.

"What a fucking monster..." She quietly mumbled.

"Nobody knew about me for days straight… I didn't eat, I didn't invent… all I wanted to do was die..." He took this wide gasp of air to keep going, "I just wanted to kill myself because who else asides of my dad would miss the freak?! But I didn't… one day I just woke up and thought… that's not what they'd want me to do… they'd want me to keep going..."

"I would've agreed with them…" She replied, "It wasn't your fault, Flint… no matter how much you keep blaming yourself… but how did you know why…?"

"Brent told me… they saw her kissing my cheek..."

In a first beginning he did blame him for Marlene's death, almost reaching the point of punching his face out of frustration, what his answer was?

_I fucking know it was! I've been grieving her death all along! She died in my arms so shut the fuck up and leave me alone! _He never brought up the topic again…

"So he got angry at her..." She completed, "He's fucking insane…"

"Bonus: he despises me..." He mumbled in a quite ironic way, "He got mad of his daughter just having a crush with the weirdo of the town..."

"Why does he hates you so much…?" She asked cleaning her face, he shrugged in response. "Hey… wherever she is, I'm sure she doesn't blames you for what happened. Is not your fault he's… you know… insane. She knew what she was invested in, and even with the danger that could represent being with you… she took it… just like what you've chosen with me..."

Well, the comparison was fair. She chose to be with him even if her father could rage to heavens about it. Yeah, it costed her life, in the same way _he_ chose to stick with Alice even if that meant get his life taken away to protect her as almost happened with Max.

There he just realized how his wishes for someone to care about and vice versa were heard…

That little girl he found in the ocean that now was in his arms was who they sent for him, there he got honest: he admitted that when he found her barely alive his mind went down towards madness, how he was trying hard to bottle up all the flashbacks about his mom and Marlene not wanting to lose another life in his hands at the same time he was fighting against the confusion that invaded for her sudden appearance, then mention about the injure at her right side and how it just brought more stress…

At least she survived.

Then finally admitted some more things he kept for anyone but himself: he was afraid of her leaving him alone again. Losing Marlene meant shut people out of his life to not pass through the same hell again in the future, but due the many things surrounding Alice that became impossible and way less with her shyness and her genuine care for him. He was afraid of fucking Shelbourne wanting to hurt her or even worse once he was back and found out about him having a new friend. After Maximus, well, his fears kinda turned down; yes, he was afraid that Max could still kill her even if she has shown to be tough enough to survive.

"I won't die… I promise..." She said, her hand went down his arm looking for his hand, entwining her pinky finger to his, "I won't let you down… I'll be here for you… I love you so much already… and I feel that I belong with you…"

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, then hugged her tight again, placing his chin on her head as she cuddled him more.

"Thank you… Liz..." He felt lighter, the pain in his chest decreased a lot. He needed to share that story so badly for so long, and now she knew it. He knew he had to do the same with his father, but that'd be when he felt ready for it.

The wind made its appearance again, this time it felt warm, softer than before; the smell of the walnut tree behind them made it perfect and relaxing. His back got against the trunk as she leaned on him too, their faces red like their eyes and both of them smiling softly feeling like there was nothing to fear this time. They were together, things were clarified, a friendship just solidified, it was them against the world…

"Oh and," He said, "now I remember, there was this old man in his 70's I met prior to Max's arrival…" She looked at him a bit, "he wasn't tall and apparently he did speak Spanish too because of his accent and… he was also wearing some white clothes, I talked to him about me being a jerk and well, before I left he told me to tell you that he says hello. Kinda had a feeling that he knows you but it could be just my imagination playing a trick."

"What's his name?"

"He only told me that he's called John, and that he didn't have much time left. I wanted to ask him some more questions but he left and I had to go back home and get ready to look after you and apologize." And still he felt that there was something odd about it, unexplainable, "And that's all, I haven't seen him in the crowd now I realize..." Now he thought closer, he didn't realize until that very moment, "I heard him say..."

** _Everything will be alright, my little Bell Bird…_ **

He felt Alice freezing right there, to then slowly get away as he looked right to his eyes with shock in her expression, tears started to fall down her face again, "That's exactly how my great-grandfather used to call me when he was alive..." She cleaned her face, but more tears came out again, "He used to say that I was his little Bell Bird… because of my skin and because the bird got white feathers most part of the time… it's a weird type though… because they sound like clanking metal…" She chuckled a bit with the slightly lousy explanation, "His name was actually Juan and… he died four years ago…"

He first remained with a close stare to his friend, processing that last sentence, to then let out a loud, "What?!" that made him jump and almost hit his head against a branch, "You mean I saw an actual ghost?!" She shrugged a bit as a maybe, "Oh my God… that's..."

"Possible..." She said, "Remember I hear dead people..." Fair point right there, he still needed to get used to the new discoveries he got in the week, "And I think I saw Marlene by my side..." Now he was the one who gave a shocked glance.

"When?" He asked cleaning his face too, "What did she say?"

She sat down again and explained that it was a few hours after she ran away to the grasslands alone in the rain, she didn't hide anywhere else but behind that same stone where she injured Flint while her mind was lost in rage, curled in a ball with her tail around her legs like her arms feeling hurt and confused… there were many things assaulting her thoughts asides of wanting to be dead already. All she felt is how he hated her so much for being half alien…

"I heard footsteps coming towards my direction. I didn't pay attention to it and I didn't give a damn of who nor why could be anyone wandering under the rain so, I just got down into my self-loathing..."

"**_Huh?__ What are you doing here?_****" **She heard a female voice asking, the girl looked up a bit and saw a girl using a simplistic white dress and beige sandals, covering herself from the rain with a yellow umbrella, "**_You should be at home with your family and not here._**" Alice didn't reply, curling back.

"I asked her to leave me alone because I wasn't feeling in the right mood for it, she didn't..." Instead she crouched wanting an answer, "And as I realized she wouldn't leave well I kinda allowed her to stay with me. She asked me again why I was alone, I went straight to the point and told him that I had an argument with a friend..."

"**_You're Flint Lockwood's new friend, aren't you?_**" Marlene asked again with a smile, Alice looked up to her seeming surprised enough to hear her asking, "**_He was my best friend for some time, but my dad didn't like to see me with him so… we parted ways..._****"** If she knew in that moment she was talking to a ghost (or an angel, hence the symbolism of the umbrella as a halo), she would've taken it in another way. Alice explained her in a short manner what happened and how he reacted, she didn't say anything back until she was done, "**_I think he didn't mean it, Alice. He was in a rush and… he used the first thing in front of him as a punching bag… of course not literally but you know what I mean. Believe me, he didn't mean it, he's not that kind of people_**_._"

"By my side I didn't know what to think at first… I-I wanted to go back and explain but… I was afraid too..." He felt bad again, "I was rationalizing too much what to do, doubting if I should or… leave..." And she left her alone thinking whether go back to him or not, it took a while, she decided it'd be the best for them to talk. Turning around she got ready to go back.

Maybe a weird detail that got her attention was something in the rock that she used as a hideout: this deep mark of the head of a sword of the same bulk of Max's, with a lot of red paint splattered on it. She thought it was weird, and also that it looked like blood because of the way it dripped down; in the moment where she decided to leave (again) she felt a loud energy coming towards the island. That's when the panther man decided to make his appearance…

"So… we saw… angels?" He asked still surprised, "So there is life after death?" Apparently, there was no other explanation to what they both saw, "This is… bananas! I can't believe it!"

"They're always watching us..." She said smiling, "I feel this won't be the last time we'll see them..."

He felt joy to know those who are dead were in a better place where they could be happier and watch on them, he felt so happy to know that both Fran and Marlene were in a better place… then he understood, too, that when he lost his conscience back in the battlefield it wasn't just a dream but an actual event.

If he was going to keep sticking around Alice he really had to get used to the upcoming madness that the future could bring. His mind has been expanded again.

They stuck around the lake until the sun started to set, he told her some stories about the place once they saw a couple of Koi fish swimming in circles around each other, telling that the fish were probably older than the very first inhabitants of the town. He didn't really believe it, she recalled this alike to the Yin and Yang between them as they were constantly spinning; standing up they made their way back to the town, giggling happily, leaving their fears and frustrations behind for something new and brighter.

Once they were far enough, from behind the walnut tree walked out no one else but Fran Lockwood wearing her usual clothing from when she was alive, giggling softly as Marlene wearing her dress and Juan also walked out as well. "We weren't wrong that they'd get along together." The girl said with a happy grin, "They needed a friend already."

"Indeed I'm glad too," Fran said, "It was a good idea send her here. Flint is comfortable and happy with her, as long as they protect each other's back everything will be fine."

"You think?" The elder asked, "Not exactly doubting about it, Fran."

"Yes, I'm completely sure about it." She replied with a wide smile.

"Let's just keep an eye on them," Marlene said, "It can get wild anytime..."

They agreed, in the same way, they agreed that finally there was a new daylight for them. Angels or not, they couldn't see the future, but there was something telling that it could be bright for them.

...

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terrible at ending things, I'm really sorry


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this a year before the pandemic so, mind if this is not accurate to what a hellish ride it's been the whole Covid-19 affair across the world
> 
> .
> 
> Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.
> 
> The respective OC's belongs to me.

_So Sally can wait_   
_She knows it's too late as she's walking on by_   
_My soul slides away_   
_But don't look back in anger_   
_Don't look back in anger_   
_I heard you say_

_Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis_

* * *

** _Ten years later…  
May 16_ ** ** _th_ ** ** _, 2020._ **

Many things happened in the last ten years like the creation of the unique yet quite nasty hybrids between rats and birds that now populated part of the island, a few months later this crazy food storm caused by a 17-years-old irresponsible teenager that also was backyard scientist… among another wild bunch of things as time-traveling that we may get to see in another moment.

The town of Swallow Falls changed a lot in that time, it didn't look like a grey rubbish dump anymore, better than that: after the food storm and the fact that Shelbourne stopped being the Mayor (who then became a criminal, crazier than shit and probably directing a criminal empire from the shadows, yadda, yadda, yadda), some people (an eleven years old Alice plus a circle of people she knew could help) took the leashes of the charge in the town hall and straightened up things.

The billionaire debt the former Mayor made to rebuild everything into Chew-And-Swallow was discharged, as her weird space-time ability was used to clean up the island they didn't need to spend a single penny so it came up with a giant benefit; local farming for vegetables and other little industries were also established, solid political relationships with the United Kingdom and some other European countries; some streets of the city were painted with graffiti, known as the "artistic corners" which some were made by Alice herself (who also was the promoter of creativity) plus a long list.

If someone's wondering, the actual Mayor was Joe Towne. He was doing it great as it. Yet he sometimes kept consulting Alice as she seemed to know a lot about leadership and had ideas and ideas to improve things – or something like that. Some things were still there like the old, rusty docks or even the giant warehouse, the cannery or the still abandoned McHale house.

After the old Mayor left, Flint finally got to give Marlene a better place to rest next to his mother's grave, planting all types of flowers around – oh yeah, another initiative a lot of townsfolk loved was to plant flowers around or on the graves of their loved ones to give the cemetery some more color and make the ambient less melancholic and sad. Many used the favorite plants of their loved ones to decorate them, others planted a tree behind their tombstone where light could get… at least from what she could hear from the ghosts wandering around sometimes, they did love the detail.

Oh yeah, back to the topic…

From the east there was something zooming faster than the speed of sound, splitting the sea in a deep half surrounded by a white aura… we can see Alice: 20 years old, from long curly hair it passed to be short tied in a low ponytail, wearing Flint's old black shirt of _I got the brains_, beige shorts and sandals, carrying a backpack on her back, and also wearing glasses and a couple of earbuds blasting music to her ears. She was swinging in the air from side to side with both arms extended behind; a little down then up as she arrived to the island, the aura around her body disappeared as she launched herself straight towards the hole of the giant "A" of "Falls", putting her legs together and her arms against her body starting to spin.

Successfully she passed through with a loud "wooh-hoo!" as she landed onto an old container, there was one roll, she ran a few steps and before she reached the end of it, she gave a long, _loooooong _jump towards the town, one leg to the front and the other to the back, landing on a lamppost and impulsing herself further as if she was taking a walk in the air.

Many people waved at her, she did the same with a smile until she reached the zone of the police station from where Earl was coming out, still looking the same as always, she turned around and using the back of her knees she got a grip to it, spinning a couple of times until she sat down, pausing the music and taking out her earbuds.

"Hey Earl!" She said with a smile as she bent back, "Is there something new happening?" She asked, now hanging upside down like an artistic gymnast.

"Hello Alice!" He said sounding in the right mood, "How are ya'? Did you bring what I asked?" She took out her backpack, opened it with her still upside down and took out a bag of muscular supplies – not steroids but something for his diet, she tossed it to him, "Thanks! And no, you already asked that early today and nothing 'interesting' for you happened today." She awed a bit, "Also, my little angel son Cal said that he already got your snack of the day in case you wanted to take it."

She extended her arms up (or down, as she still was upside down) and almost dropped her backpack in response, making her both yelp and curse a bit at the same time the cop let out a soft chuckle in response.

"You know that your son isn't_ that _little anymore, right?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh, for us parents, our kids will always be kids even if they're old enough..." He replied sounding soft, smiling at her, "You'll understand they day you become a parent!" She looked down with this little sad smile, maybe someday if she didn't die first… anyway.

Making this super acrobacy she got back onto the lamppost, waved at the police officer and started to make her way towards downtown like a super ninja (or even a spider woman due her flexibility), reaching what looked like this big café with crystal doors: from the inside there were several types of smells from sweet things as donuts, buns or cupcakes, the floor was the classic chess-like theme, white walls, around ten or twelve round tables with four chairs each part, at one side there was an old restored jukebox playing some jams, on the other side there was this little stage with some instruments like a drum kit, a bass, some guitars, a triangle (?). She walked towards the large bar with seven swivel seats; some people waved at her again.

"Triple decaf mochaccino-bobba-latte with skim soy and nutmeg sprinkle!" She heard from the kitchen as someone got out, giving the back, holding a tray with several cups of coffee.

"I'd like to order something strong!" She exclaimed with a grin, the person flinched angry as if he got already this long day. He turned around looking angry.

"Wait your turn fancy pants!" He yelled, when he realized it was Alice he sighed deeply, "Oh my God Alice, I can't believe I fell on it again!"

She was laughing a lot in response, Calvin Devereaux just placed the tray on the bar cracking a little smile in response. Of course he changed a lot: almost as tall as his father, his hair was quite longer compared to when he was young showing a curly black hair, the thing he didn't change from early years was his jacket, adapted to his actual size. Now upon it he was using an apron.

"Hello Miles Morales!" She said grinning widely, he groaned a bit as he chuckled a bit in response, "Earl told me you had something prepared so here I am, and I'm noticing you're a bit busy. Do you want me to help with the delivery?"

"One: stop calling me like that," He said, "Second, yes I do, and third: please..." She asked the names, he gave a list until he heard some female yelling from the kitchen, "Ah shit…! The crew had to leave to the US, you know, Alex and Henry had to leave to the US again for some work stuff and Cassie and I are alone!" His friend giggled in response, "Well at least we get some profit."

"Just take a couple of days off if in the end this place is yours." She said taking the tray of coffee, "In the meantime make me a list of the clients and point me who ordered right now."

He did the asked and pointed to some tables, getting to make that list she asked for and getting all the other orders ready in a red squared box, in exchange her friend was going to take care of her backpack.

Before she left, a grown up Cassie (chubbier, quite stressed out, about to murder a C) came out from the kitchen with a spoon full of what looked like cake mass or similar, wearing a stained apron, also with the top chef hat, latex gloves and with an angry stare. He gulped a bit knowing he would get smacked soon and stormed back to work; Alice couldn't help but let out a chuckle in response. Without saying anything to her asides of sharing this stare that made her stressed friend smile, they both turned their backs to each other and left.

She took out the list and checked the names, knowing she had to be both fast and careful to deliver all the requests… later she would check if the mailing service wouldn't need a hand as well, as much as she could remember there were a couple of things that had to be delivered to the school's laboratory – some idiot made an _oopsies_ and destroyed half of whatever was made of glass (no, it wasn't Steve this time) like a week ago. At that point they had to get it delivered already… yeah, she would ask the school first and later the mailing service.

Without wanting to lose anymore time she ran a few meters before starting to jump roof by roof again, trying to _not_ make any type of stunt in the process (almost failing at the task, but managing to keep the focus). The amazing thing of living in an island like Swallow Falls was that everyone knew each other, they were a tiny community that's been slowly getting expanded so they all knew each other and who lived where.

From here to there she delivered the almost-delayed orders, apologizing in the name of the house for the troubles caused and keep going from side to side. Some having waited their food from their work places, others for their lunch – even if it was way past noon, so there it went. The penultimate orders went to the city hall while the last one went to the Mayor's former mansion, which wasn't owned by him anymore for quite obvious reasons. She checked the order, to who it was addressed and smiled, taking out a box with some doughnuts she noticed that there was one left which made her confused… she would ask him what it was later.

Getting to the porch she pressed the door bell with a smile, stomping her left foot a bit while she waited for about a couple of minutes before she started to feel impatient; when she was right about to press it again she heard a voice calling from inside at the same time the footsteps were heard. Some locks of the door were unlocked, then the person opened the door.

"Delivery for Brent McHale and family!" She said with a grin.

Brent quite of looked the same: still corpulent and with that belly of his, same hair, same blue tracksuit; but at the same time he looked different: older of course, wiser and calmed and compared to the early days from when they first met, now they were good friends – and the fact he ended up helping out Flint to save the world back when the food storm happened plus a couple of extra times involving (oh surprise) the ex-Mayor had something to do there too.

"Thanks A!" He said checking out if everything was in order, "We were wondering what was taking so long!"

"Well, as I can see you took a day off from your Chick'n'Sushi restaurant. No wonder why they're so busy right now!" She said crossing her arms faking indignation, unable to repress her grin, he laughed in response.

"Well, you know how kids are!" He replied, "One day to be with the family don't do any harm." She agreed, "Anyway, thank you Alice!" He looked up for his money, she made him his bill and gave it to him.

They heard a thud from behind him, they both took a look and saw a little girl of a bit more than two years waddling to their direction, who just fell to the floor and stood back up as if nothing happened at all. She had brown hair with tiny, cute curls, grey eyes like him wearing a bear onesie; Alice kneeled down as the girl opened her arms to her, wrapping them around her neck tight and happily, to then get hugged by a small boy of her age, with straight messy blond hair and green eyes wearing an onesie of a killer whale.

"Oh hello kids," She said with a smile at the same time she pulled them both up, "how are my little nephews doing today?" They both smiled cutely in response, she felt her heart melting.

"A-aunteeh Awice!" The boy said, "F-fwy!"

"You wanna fly?" She asked with a bright smile, they nodded, "Alrighty then!" She closed her eyes and slowly unwrapped her arms from them, taking a step back. Both kids were floating, squealing happily, "Now you can fly!" She opened her eyes, they looked different: blue-grey color with this odd pattern of concentric circles covering the entire eyeball, the iris of the eye was a darker color while the pupil remained the same black dot.

The kids were spinning in the air in a safe distance from solid ground, hovering around inside the living room, the woman just crossed her legs and sat in the air as she looked at them go, smiling softly. She let out this soft sigh…

"Ha… Marlene and James seems so happy when you let them float around," The voice of Brent made her snap and look him, "I'm sure your kids will be the same when they have your age."

"I guess… if I ever actually manage to find someone."

This was her little dream of hers since all her madness began years ago: find a couple, settle down, maybe marry and have kids – twins if it was possible. Keep doing the things she was still doing with Flint until they were old and weak… just a peaceful life (not always peaceful, someone learned to accept the madness and sometimes to provoke them) around her loved ones, and it always seemed as an impossibility due some twisted shit that she sadly witnessed, but that's another story.

A few minutes later she had to place them down on the couch for their sadness, her eyes went back to brown and their auntie saying that she'd be back another time as now she was busy, the two infants gave her another hug before she left again, at the moment he got back inside she could see a woman walking into the living room… she looked as a grown up version of Marlene – but that's also another story. Then the door closed, she felt alone.

Physically, yes, she was alone, but it wasn't just that kind of loneliness. It was more this weird feeling of having a missing piece she haven't been able to fill in years, she wasn't sure what caused it… maybe her early life did with all the problems: the secrets, murder attempts… well, kind of a constant existential crisis. **"****_Oh please tell me you ain't getting into a crisis again..._****"** She rolled her eyes as she felt this little weight presented on her shoulder: it was a tiny dragon (or as she called him: lizard) called Drakon.

"Do you have any problem about it?" She asked sounding salty, starting to walk down the street.

**"****_So, I'm not allowed to ask?_****"** He asked, she just gave him a stare,** "****_Fine..._****"**

"Well remember that you are in that list of the people who made me a fucking mess!" She answered angry, "Dad, Shelbourne, Maximus, in part myself, and you are in that list!"

**"****_Yeah, I know, can we forget about it?_****" **It seemed that she just got angrier.

"What? You constantly haunting my mind because you were fucking bored to the point that I _had to try to __kill__ myself _several fucking times back when I was 12 and see Flint in fucking distress about it so you would care?!" As much as she tried to look firm, there were tears falling down her face, he was staring right to his eyes, as much as she changed, deep down she was still that little girl he once met. He went silent, she cleaned her face, "Sorry Drak…"

**"****_I understand, I always did, and I'm really sorry I was such a fucking twit to you,_****" **He said looking down,** "****_And I understand too, tha_****_t some of your mental issues is also my fault._****"** It wasn't the first time they argued about it, even if they did, it was always hard to keep talking about it and sort it out properly. She was angry, he tried to calm her down and the first thing she did was attack him for those times; regardless the things she could say, he never replied knowing that she was in her rights of reclaiming his stupid behavior.

It wasn't back in the day him just trying to take over her body like when he made her lost control against Max, but constant reminders of how useless she was, livid nightmares of past experiences, sometimes inciting her of taking away her life (something she also did, and again that's also another, more complicated story), constantly attacking her confidence… they were like a toxic couple but doomed to be together until she died, until one day she just got to the lowest point in her life and tried to kill herself. Not only once, but at least three or four times later that same week.

Back then it was a severe depression, a psychiatrist later on detected what in her actual days is bipolarity disorder. She didn't get medication fearing she would try to kill herself with them even if it could be controlled; most part of the time she was relatively happy and trying to keep a positive mental attitude… but her attacks… well, they were… violent. The last time she was about to slit her throat open right after cutting her wrists with a piece of glass, but a friend of her mother (who discovered about her powers when she was 13 after some more deep shit that almost got them killed) who was also like a father for her managed to stop her and drag her out.

In an utter nutshell, she became a nervous wreck. A time bomb constantly threatening to explode.

They could argue, yell at each other, rage, destroy everything and come back together.

Deep down she deeply hated to still be that young, scared girl because even if she now had all the power of the world, others could still make her feel so petty and pathetic. A horrible complex that never left her alone.

Making their amends they left the place back to Cal's bakery to get her backpack, his money for the delivers and stuff, once there she found out that what was left, a box of cookies (which funny enough made the lizard lose some braincells due his dumb stare, drooling a lot) and pudding were for her as gifts.

"It's been ten years since we had the pleasure of meeting you, sooooo, there is your gift!" He said.

"You shouldn't have bothered…" She replied with a little smile, "Thanks..." He seemed to notice something wrong, "Can you give me some ice cream please?" He took out a bucket of caramel ice cream, a metal spoon and gave it to her. She gave him twenty dollars in exchange.

"Nah, take it back. The bucket's a gift too. As long it helps you to not kick it hard it's alright for me."

She smiled a bit more in response, already opening it and leaving while eating the content. Ice cream was the answer for everything in her opinion. Stretching her back she walked down the street, Drakon was eating a few cookies on her shoulder (her head was forbidden, he always leaves crunches), the tip of her monkey tail slightly up moving to the sides like a cat, showing her current mood.

On her way back she passed next to the old, still abandoned McHale house. Over the years after the first time she got in with her friends she learned to not be afraid of them, the house couldn't be sold because everybody knew that a murder happened there; some time after the food storm Brent went back for the first time in what felt like ages, she remembered clear enough how they finally made themselves visible and tangible, hugging their son, setting them free for once at all… or were they actually gone? She looked towards the long abandoned building: open windows, hovering tattered curtains, she couldn't help but wave to nowhere having the feeling that someone was doing it too.

Maybe they didn't leave in case their son needed them again.

The neighborhood didn't suffer a lot of changes over the years: same old symmetrical houses, all with the same shape, same amount of rooms, etc. the mail boxes had all names, a fewer ones had handprints of the family members, there was this one that said "Martin-Galiano" with three handprints – a giant one, a medium-sized one and finally the one of a little girl. "**_I don't understand why they bought a house here if they're not actually living here._**" The lizard said, "**_Not complaining though._**"

"You know that mum and Chris really likes to come here when he's getting hunted by the paparazzi," She replied, her bucket almost empty, "pretty much along the others, besides we know he wants to keep her and Cecilia safe from media as much as he can." She crossed the street, "The best part is having them living right crossing the street!"

Front side of the Lockwood house, the mailbox had the handprints of Fran, Tim and Flint plus another one. Reaching the front door she took out her keys from her backpack and unlocked it, she got in stretching her arms and back, yelling an "I'm home!" in case any of both men were in. There was no response, which didn't call her attention either until some footsteps arrived.

"Good afternoon Alice!" It was Tim, who didn't change a single thing _at all_ in the past ten years. He seemed glad to see her, "What's with the ice cream bucket?" She looked at it and shrugged, "And hello, Drakon." He sounded… dry with his greeting to him.

**"** ** _H_ ** ** _i._ ** **"**

She placed down the bucket and took off her backpack, getting out a fishing rod in parts and some money.

"Uh… thanks Alice but you can keep the–"

"No I won't keep it," She interrupted with a little smile, "I don't need it. It's alright Mr. Lockwood." She never tried to call him by his name – well once, after that she went back to formalities seeming more comfortable in that way.

His gaze now turned to the dragon, who was snacking another cookie, stopping when he realized about the intense glare to his being, "**_Oh goodness! I'm not emptying the cookie jar this time!_**" Tim didn't like him that much for two reasons: Alice and cookies. Mostly because he knew the lizard was one of the reasons of why his adoptive daughter was the way she was not actually really caring that he always saved her life countless times before. Cookies often were gone almost daily, reminding him of a cookie monster who wouldn't share his snack with anyone… in any case, the fisherman didn't reply at all.

"Haha, he still dislikes you!" Alice mocked with a grin, getting a groan in response.

"I actually wasn't addressing the cookie jar this time… _Leviathan_." He crossed his arms seeming angry, "What did you say this time?" His gaze turned now towards the almost empty bucket. It wasn't a secret that she used to eat tons of ice cream when she was feeling sad, like trying to cool down the (sadly, eternal-like) rage inside.

"I'm alright..." She replied, half lying, giving a little sad smile. Something in him could tell her that he didn't believe it, then her gaze dropped slightly, "Just me having issues… as always..." He just came close to her and wrapped arms around her, making her sniff and tear up again, "I'm okay..."

There was never a point on lying to herself more than trying to pretend she could cheer herself up somehow, even if the attempts were… futile. From a soft sniff she started to cry silently feeling weak. She always had problems about letting her walls fall down and let others in (unless it was Flint or some very close people to her heart), mostly because she didn't want others to worry for simple yet complex problems. It was something that never lasted too long as they knew her a lot to pass up her issues.

It took a couple of minutes before she pulled away, cleaning her face trying hard to calm back down, repeating "I'm okay" over and over again, taking her bucket away and heading to her room, it still had the same faded blue wallpaper with rhombs, the main difference it was how it was shown that someone lived in there: there were a lot of posters of a few bands (mostly Coldplay and Keane) hanging around plus others from series and Marvel movies. The old Macintosh-like computer was replaced for a simplified desktop that looked like an iMac (even if it was _not_ an iMac), next to the desktop there was a wooden trunk with a few ninja tools upon the top. The bookcase was full of several books next to each other, what didn't fit anymore there was piled next to the computer.

There she dropped her backpack to a side of the bed and sat down at the verge, her tail moving angrily like a cat to the sides, eating whatever was left of her ice cream… she sighed heavily. "Fuck..."

**"****_You're a mess, young lady._****"** The lizard said, she looked at him with a death stare, **"****_Wait I know what you're thinking, I'll shut up for now._****"**

"Please..."

He disappeared there, leaving her alone. She flopped down looking to the ceiling blankly for a long, long while feeling empty… it was a lot hateful, but there wasn't anything left to do more than just keep walking, right? There she smiled, knowing that it comes from hating herself with a mix of acceptance, there she reminded how she learned to love herself more over the last years thanks to a good bunch of people who constantly got her back and pushed her forward non-stopping. Some things were never going to change like a lot of things of her past, some horrible stuff she did in those early years that spiralled her straight to madness…

Like when Flint got kidnapped by Shelbourne, left to die in a hole alone underfed…

When the love of her life got killed saving her life and only because she wanted to die… and the bloody carnage that came afterwards…

The many times she tried to kill herself due the pain of the loss and how she affected Flint so badly, then dying in his arms after saving _his_ life…

Her hand pulled up her shirt revealing this long, diagonal scar from the right bottom near her hips to the left upper side, around the height of the eighth rib bone of the rib cage. In her entire life, thanks to Drakon she never got any type of scars on her skin, but that one plus exactly another one on her back were the only ones that remained there and never left. Remember what happened there, how she saved her best friend from Maximus and losing her life in the process just took out a smile, always thinking on doing it again because she wasn't afraid of dying – actually, maybe it'd be the best to secure the safety of her family and friends… but it was never the right time for it, at least, that's what the world has left clear. On another hand, even if she wouldn't regret for dying, she would feel fairly bad for her friends for causing them unnecessary pain for being gone – which was something her mother left clear when she saved her life at the age of 13 from this crazy almost unbeatable demon.

**"****_You realize that's where your life started to slowly go for the better, right?_****"** Drakon asked in her mind,** "****_Your mom finally finding out about your crazy life, yelling at your dad because it's mainly his fault… yelling at me for the times I tried to take over your body..._****"**

"Yeah… and get the fuck out of high school was also the best shit that ever happened to me too." She mumbled, "Meeting Chris and the guys too..."

**"** ** _Going to the other universes is the funniest shit we've ever done._ ** **"**

"Agreed..."

Standing back up she took some clothes from the closet, picking up Flint's old red-and-yellow t-shirt with the logo of Atari he had somewhere and he didn't actually use as his usual shirt was the baby-blue one of Science is Awesome, a gift from a decade ago before she left the island for the very first time for a couple of months… and capri shorts, then went to the bathroom with a towel and take a long shower. Many things passed through her mind in a single moment until it went blank, letting her enjoy the hot water without any more incidental thoughts… once out she got dressed, stretched her body and went towards the laboratory.

The outside of the lab didn't change at all: still this big dome painted with blue stripes, the same system of hydraulic tunnels for the elevator, which also was made of the same old port-a-potty; opening the door she got in and sat down, closing it and wooshing upstairs, there she got to that pink hallway until she reached the curtain painted as a secured door – oh wait, she placed up her hand upon the hand scanner, which scanned her handprints, then opened up by disappearing, the female computer-y voice received her with a "Welcome, Alice.".

The inside was wide different: it seemed bigger, way infinite, more things, several ongoing inventions (plus some devices and weapons that seemed to be taken out from the Marvel Cinematographic Universe like Thor's Storm Breaker)… all the "archaic" technology was replaced for new computer processors and stuff, somewhere around they had a musical corner with a lot of instruments, CD's and even a jukebox with a lot of vinyls inside, next to that "corner" was his motivational wall with all those scientists. Instead of the set of several screens used for Flint's computer, everything was replaced for six flat screens and the keyboard had neon lights, his swivel chair was a blue and black gaming Clutch, _Fucking Felix,_ she thought smiling.

Oh yeah, on the swivel chair there was a scientist sleeping: Flint Lockwood was no more that teenager but an adult in his mid-almost late twenties, his hair was still crazy and longer, tied up on a bum like a hipster, as usual wearing his lab coat, completely having fallen asleep. She giggled a bit remembering they had a lot of work last night he carried on, maybe until dawn hit the surface… she wasn't surprised at all about it. Steve was sleeping somewhere too, smiling mischievously she went towards the jukebox and turned it in, searching for a song on the tactile screen for a song until she found the one. She made this wide grin on her face as she first put the volume to the max volume, then played the song… In The Heat of the Moment by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

_You drop me in for the gap,  
1, 2…  
1, 2, 3, 4._ _  
_ _Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah!_

The powerful intro made the scientist yelp and jump from his place at the point he almost reached the ceiling… literally, landing on his back as she turned down the volume laughing out loud, "I'm sorry mate," She said with a grin, "I couldn't help it..." The man stood up, showing a short stubble beard without the moustache on his face and an annoyed stare; under his coat he had a blue tee that said 'Two Door Cinema Club' on his chest in white letters as there was a red phone hanging upside down.

"Alright, nice one." He said cracking a smile, "What time is it?"

"Four-and-something pm, I think." She replied, pacing at the rhythm of the music, "Did you sleep at dawn again? Or later than that?" He shrugged in response, she assumed it happened after sunrise – which was _fairly unsurprising_.

**"****_Su_****_nrise_****_ was_****." **They both said at the same time, he sighing and she chuckling softly.

"Did I miss something in the day?" He asked, she chuckled and looked at him for a long moment, "Well, Brent told me yesterday that he's taking a little break from his Chicken'n'Sushi restaurant. Also that Cal and Cassie needs a little hand at their bakery, how someone broke all the chemistry glasses yesterday – I already sent them some stored stuff I have, more in development soon..." He was grinning, she seemed to be expecting something else, "And it's been ten years since we met, did you really think I'd forget about it?"

"Always hard to tell if it's coming from you." She teasingly said, chuckling softly and getting close to give him a very tight hug that almost made his back crack, he returned it with the same strength, "I love you so much Lockwood… really, thanks for handling my shit after all this time..."

"Same with you, thank you for not leaving me alone… I don't know where would I be right now if it wasn't for you..."

"We'd be six feet underground maybe… feels like the most possible scenario for any of us..."

The more she thought about that hypothetical reality where none of them met the more she believed that he was stronger than her and she was the one dead – in some other realities it could be the opposite. And maybe that was the case somewhere in the multiverse, many realities where none of them met for A or B reason, or maybe they did, but who knows what happened after. Maybe one was gone, maybe both were gone…

Once they separated from the hug, he went to his bathroom to make himself up. At the same time he was gone, Alice felt a weight on her head, to realize then how there was a weight on her head, looking up she met a couple of orange eyes peeking upside down taking out a smile. Steve seemed happy to see her again, he didn't look as energetic and wild as he was once upon a time – understandable, he was already an old friend, yet he still seemed joyful.

She took him off from her head as she sat down on Flint's swivel chair, making their old trusty lab partner cuddle in a furball on her lap as she caressed his head softly. Once upon a time they thought about letting him go, find him a couple to settle down and have a family of his own; they reached a point where they felt like that was the right thing to do, when they started to get out of the island more often, to travel more often than ever before leaving the poor thing alone in the laboratory for a prolonged amount of time… that was five years ago, until her mother gave birth to a little child who had a blast playing with Steve, and he really liked that little girl too. It were two monkeys playing with each other (almost literally). They didn't have the heart to take that away…

"Cecilia wanted me to be her show-and-tell in her class," She heard Flint say as he came back, cleaning his face with a towel, "Chris called me after you went to sleep saying, 'Hello mate,'" He said with a perfect British accent, "'Cecilia wants to talk to you!' And I said 'Sure!', he gave her the phone and said 'Uncle N-woo! Uncle N-woo! Can I ask you something?', 'Alright,' 'Can you please be my show and tell at my classes?'" Alice was giggling softly with the story as her friend seemed genuinely moved by the request of the little girl.

"And?"

"I… I couldn't say no to her..." He had a pink shade on his face as he scratched the back of his neck with a shy expression, "I'm think I'm surprised and flattered though..."

Cecilia was Alice's little sister, product of the actual relationship of his mum with a man who actually loves her and respects her a lot. She wasn't in the plans of the newly formed Martin-Galiano family as Helena wasn't really in the actual shape (nor age) to have a baby, it was an unexpected even they took with open arms and a careful treatment carried by experts and even the inventor himself with his own stuff and knowledge which gracefully ended up without anything wrong, the girl was born as a healthy and strong baby.

The best part for Alice was how her little sister was a quarter Saiyan with a tiny monkey tail and with much more potential at the age of four. She could even turn into Super Saiyan with half of her age! Neither her father nor her could believe it in a very beginning, but they were way too proud of her for it.

"Anthony, Ceci really loves you so much. Is not uncle Phil, not uncle Jonny, not even uncle Robert fucking Downey Jr. aka fucking Iron Man, it's _you_!" She had this spark in her eyes that was yelling passion and sincerity, "She loves you because for her you're the best in every sense of the word! You've brought many things to life for her delight, you're always there being sweet and caring and touching that soft spot she got for some people, you're her creative compass as well, she even wants to be the best scientist in the world like you already! You always had that charm in the first place so don't at me."

He chuckled and looked away with a shy smile, even if his personality calmed down a lot since he got into adulthood (while Alice became quite the opposite, as if they swapped their personalities with her being wacky and cheerful and he being chill, reserved and sometimes quite shy), some things didn't get away yet. Simplicity was something that never left, he was back to be that awkward teenager he used to be and he somehow never stopped being, even with some painful upside downs, he was truly happy to be where he is and who he is.

Then both of them got calls at the same time, he took out an iPhone as she took out a Samsung phone and picked up. They spoke at the same time and did the same corporal expressions as if they were connected somehow, then there was a loud "What?!" that made Alice jump out of the chair which also scared Steve, the two friends shared a worried gaze and ended the call with a "I'll be right there!" and hung up.

"_Evelien/Harry called and she/he said that Jack/Tom was sucked by an interdimensional portal that looked like the one from the Spider-Verse movie!_" More than look worried, they both looked excited for it, "_We'll be going into the Spider-Verse!_" They both exclaimed happily. "_I just hope he doesn't get into troubles in the meantime..._" They both also mumbled. Oh well.

"Get your travel stuff done Vic!" He exclaimed, "We don't know what can be waiting for us nor how long it will take!"

They started to run from here to there across the entire laboratory, she went downstairs, both of them got a backpack and their stuff plus a change of clothes to something more suitable for adventure. The two friends came across a little box with capsules in it with numbers, checking everything in she went back upstairs and helped her friend to pack whatever was left. In no time the laboratory was left empty as she jumped off the window and he ran down in the elevator beaming with happiness, to then fly away at top speed towards the East agreeing to call each other when they had all the details ready to leave.

Then he came back for a moment, entering by the window he left enough food to Steve and prepared a quick note to his father, when he was right about to leave he looked to his good old night stand. All the rush wore off as he got closer to it, three frames were there: one was the picture of his mother, next to it there was the framed photograph of the St. Valentine's dance he had with Marlene so long ago, and finally a picture of him behind a little Alice, hugging her with his arms wrapped around her protectively as she had a shy yet happy look. He closed his eyes and smiled, not feeling pain, not feeling anxious, just… peace…

He wouldn't deny that the absence of his mother and the memories of Marlene's sudden departure didn't affect him anymore. Sometimes it did harder than others, but whenever he was feeling relatively alright, it didn't… and he was fine with it.

He couldn't avoid going down to memory lane and think, _How fast time flies…_ some things felt like happened yesterday even if it's been years from these events. He looked back, there was a wall full of instant photographs, full of friends he's been making throughout his life with an old Polaroid camera that Alice took possession of (and that she was carrying in her backpack with her phone), full of amazing memories like the first time he went to France, some time after the food storm with all his friends, when they got to meet Coldplay in Australia back in 2014 in the backstage, how they became their crew between 2016 and 2017 for their massive tour, and recently added an updated picture of the Lockwood family with the three of them mixed with Alice's mom, her step-father Chris, her little sister Cecilia and finally Steve.

"Flint! What is taking so long?" He heard Alice call from out the window, "We don't know if it's been weeks or years since they ended up in Miles' universe and I already told your dad we're leaving!"

"Yeah! Sorry! I'm on my way! And thanks!" He said as he stood up. Still without rush he put on his backpack. "Steve, take care of the laboratory for us!" He exclaimed, hearing him responding with his name making him chuckle, then headed to the window and jumped off, floating right there as if gravity didn't exist. "I'm ready, let's go."

There they both flew away again together, with wide grins on his faces ready to leap into a new adventure.

Ready to face the unknown…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This last part might not be completely a thing as I've been having some other ideas around it


End file.
